Rum and Vodka Programme

"I did English in UCD and Conor McPherson was in my year. I got to know him a little. I remember being in the canteen with him once when he spoke of how he wanted to explore the idea of hypocrisy, and people's unwillingness to face up to it. He used the example of somebody wearing a red t-shirt asking a second person if they liked his green t-shirt, and that person saying 'Yes, I really like that green t-shirt'! David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross had been on the course and I think Conor was quite influenced by it. The programme has a note from the author, a proto-manifesto. The monologue format is now synonymous with him. One day I went to buy a pair of Doc Martens behind the Ilac Centre and there was Conor, working at his aunt's stall. I didn't take his advice about sizes and bought a pair one size too small. Years later I was watching his film 'I Went Down' and was pleasantly surprised, and quite pleased with myself, when I spotted his blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo unsuccessfully chatting up girls in a disco. I found myself sitting beside him in a restaurant in Rathmines last year but wasn't brave enough to introduce myself.  "