Satirical comedy ‘A Modest Proposal’ comes to the Civic

JOHNNY is excited.

He’s cracked a big problem, and now he wants to tell us about it.

He and his high-powered agency team have come up with a solution to one of the most persistent and difficult social issues in one of the world’s richest economies – that of ongoing child poverty in Ireland.

Where others have failed, Johnny has applied blue-sky thinking, shifted the mindset and has come up with a solution where everyone wins.

Armed with a Powerpoint deck he takes to the stage to present his modest, if unorthodox, proposal.

Based on a 1729 essay by Jonathan Swift, ‘A Modest Proposal’ is a satirical comedy starring Jed Murray and directed by Andy Crook.

The production opened at the New Theatre, Dublin, in February 2024, where it garnered excellent reviews from audiences and critics alike and is now touring nationally.

This week, we sat down with writer David Quinn to discuss ‘A Modest Proposal’, which will be performed in the Civic Theatre from November 6 to 8 at 8.15pm; be sure to check the Civic website for more details.

What inspired you to write a stage adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s essay ‘A Modest Proposal’?

I’ve always been a fan of Jonathan Swift’s short 1729 essay and pamphlet ‘A Modest Proposal’ ever since I first read it in college in the 1980s.

The genius of the original piece is that he gets you to agree to something quite outrageous by making a very rational argument.

It’s a savage piece. Hard-hitting satire at its very best, and it has stayed with me ever since.

In my view, it is one of the greatest pieces of writing in the English language and should be mandatory for every Leaving Cert student.

It’s only nine pages long but packs a real punch.

When you finish reading it, you think to yourself – “I can’t believe that I just went along with what he has just proposed.”

And of course, it’s about child poverty – something that is still with us.

It all came back to me when I went on a guided tour of St Patrick’s Cathedral in 2017 (If you haven’t done that tour yet, then make it your business; it’s a real gem).

And as you probably already know, Jonathan Swift was the Dean there.

The tour guide really brought him to life and put him in the context of his times.

He was very politically active and campaigned on many of the social issues of the day.

But what really came to light was that while Swift’s congregation were the cream of Dublin society – the ultra-wealthy Anglo-Irish aristocracy – right across the road were the slums of the

Liberties, where most of the poor people lived at the time.

Child poverty was in the news back in 2017.

It had just reached the 1000 mark – as in there were 1000 children living in homeless accommodation.

There was the usual outcry in the media and political handwringing.

This news angered me, and inspired by Swift, I sat down to write ‘A Modest Proposal’ for today.

How have you adapted the source material for a modern setting?

I work in advertising, and part of the job is making presentations and pitching ideas to clients, and I have always thought that it was inherently theatrical.

I often thought to myself “what is the most outrageous idea that we could pitch?”

These two strands came together, and this is the setup for my ‘Modest Proposal’.

It’s a presentation complete with a PowerPoint deck, where the audience is the client (don’t worry, there is no audience participation).

Brendan Murray and you have been working together for years to adapt this play; can you tell us more about that?

Brendan Murray, who, by the way, is a native of Clondalkin and a past pupil of Moyle Park, and I go back a long way.

We used to work in Punchbag Theatre in Galway together many years ago.

Punchbag was best known for the play ‘Eclipsed’, about the Magdalene Laundry, and for giving a young actor from Navan, by the name of Tommy Tiernan, his first big break.

Brendan is now the Director of the Glens Arts Centre in Manorhamilton, County Leitrim (a long way from Clondalkin!), and he liked the play and wanted to produce it.

How did Andy Crook and Jed Murray come to be involved in this play?

Andy Crook – the director – and Jed Murray – the actor – came on board last year for its first run at The New Theatre in Temple Bar.

It got a great reaction from both the public and the critics alike.

I’m delighted that we are getting this opportunity to take it out on the road and tour it around Ireland so more people can see it.

Were there any highlights or challenges in writing this play?

One of the tragic bits of writing this play is that every year I have had to update the numbers.

In the first third of the play, Jonny presents a picture of what life is like for a homeless child in Ireland today.

For this section we use the real data as published by the government and other sources.

As I mentioned, I wrote the first draft in 2017 when the number of homeless children reached 1000 for the first time and caused an outrage.

A couple of months later, they reached 5000 for the first time and got a pretty muted response. Now that is tragic.

What is next for you; do you have any more projects in the pipeline?

I am working away in the background on another idea, and I hope to finish the first draft of the script soon.

It’s nothing like ‘A Modest Proposal’, and who knows maybe we will get the chance to bring it to Tallaght again.

Who would you like to thank?

I would like to thank my friends and family, particularly Sophie, Oscar and Deirdre, for their support.

Writing is something I have wanted to do for a long time.