Q&A with Nick Makin – The Devil and Durex – Smock Alley Theatre

The Devil and Durex – Smock Alley Theatre – 29 April – 10 May
The Devil and Durex – Written by: Nick Makin

Your bio calls you an Australian who now calls Ireland home. Can you tell us how you got here?

Not exactly an original story  – I met and fell in love with an Irish woman doing a year “down under”.  Moving to Ireland, I felt immediately at home – who wouldn’t with such warm-hearted people and beautiful countryside (when it’s not raining!).

Can you tell us about Fair Dinkum Theatre? When did it start, and who was involved?

Fair Dinkum Theatre! was born out of a reading of our first production, I Poured the Tea, received at the 2019 NewVember new play festival.  It stuttered initially as Covid was a severe complication in trying to get a show off the ground!  We finally staged I Poured the Tea in 2022.

We’ve always had a multinational flavour – I Poured the Tea featured established Dublin-based Irish actors such as Eoin O’Sullivan, Gerry Cannon and Jason Gilroy, but we also had an American director in Casey Hallahan and an American stage manager in Noelle Killius.

The Devil and Durex deals with the “sexual revolution in a small rural Irish parish” in the 1970s. Where did the idea for this play come from? 

I  moved to rural Ireland in 1995.  I was immediately struck by the cultural differences from rural Australia, where I was raised.  It was a much more polite and restrained society.  I had to “rein things in” a little to avoid causing offence.

At the same time, I read about the “Condom Trains” to Belfast in the 1970s.  It appealed to the absurdist side of me to push rural Ireland and the sexual revolution together and see what transpired!

Do you think being an outsider “looking in” at Ireland is an advantage or a disadvantage? 

I think it’s been a huge advantage.  I see what everybody else sees, but I don’t suffer from any guilt or sense of taboo that undoubtedly prevents others from using it as dramatic or comedic material.

How involved have you been in the rehearsal period? Have you attended many?

As many as I possibly can!  I am constrained by living 53 km from where the rehearsals are taking place and having to turn up for work the next day – albeit only 3 days a week!

I emphasised attending the early rehearsals as that’s where I add the most in terms of clarifying the intent.  After that, the value of the writer in the rehearsal room declines.

Does the play continue to evolve up until opening night, or have there been any significant changes during the rehearsals?

The play has certainly evolved, though the changes have been small in nature.  They tend to be driven by needing to explain a point a little more, or pragmatic considerations that emerge as the play is blocked.  The overall intent and plot haven’t been changed at all.

Do you have another play in the works, or do you take it one project at a time?

I’ve always got a number of pieces in the pipeline.  Some will never see the light of day – I am only interested in staging work that is true to Fair Dinkum Theatre’s philosophy –  good fun, good value and thought-provoking.