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theatre · Friday 10 July 2026 · 8:00pm 
I Hear You and Rejoyce - Mikel Murfi
At The Patrick Kavanagh Centre · Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan, Ireland A91 KT20
At The Patrick Kavanagh Centre · Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan, Ireland A91 KT20
Mikel Murfi is one of those performers who can hold a room of sixty people in complete silence, then break it wide open with a single gesture. I Hear You and Rejoyce is the second part of his trilogy following cobbler Pat Farnon - a sequel to the sellout The Man In The Woman’s Shoes - and it arrives at the Patrick Kavanagh Centre on the Friday evening of the Inniskeen Road July Evening Festival. The New York Times named it a Critic’s Pick; the London Evening Standard gave it five stars and called it “pure distilled 100 per cent theatrical magic.” If you missed the first show, that does not matter: Pat’s world pulls you in from the opening line. A quiet evening of outstanding Irish theatre in a setting that could not suit it better.
Late in life, cobbler and contented man Pat Farnon marries the redoubtable Kitsy Rainey - and it is a match made in heaven, in more ways than one. Murfi performs alone on stage, slipping between characters with the kind of precise physicality that critics have likened to Morse code: every pause and shift of weight carries meaning. The show was created in collaboration with Sligo County Council Arts Services and The Hawk’s Well Theatre, and is presented here in association with both. Described as a masterclass in monologue, it balances grief and comedy in the way that only the best Irish storytelling does - warm, exact, and fully alive. The Patrick Kavanagh Centre’s sixty-seat Audio-Visual Theatre keeps it intimate: there is no bad seat.
Inniskeen is a small village in south Monaghan, about 8 km north-east of Carrickmacross on the R178. From Dublin, take the N2 or M1/A1 and come in via Carrickmacross - roughly an hour’s drive. From Dundalk it is under 20 minutes. There is no regular public transport to Inniskeen itself, so a car is the practical option for most visitors; parking is available in the village. Taxis from Carrickmacross are straightforward if you are coming by bus or train to that town.
The festival runs across several days in July, so there is a full programme of walks, storytelling, and community events to build around this show. The village is Patrick Kavanagh country - the Centre itself holds exhibitions on the poet’s life and work, and his grave in the local churchyard is a two-minute walk away. There is more to see in Inniskeen and across Co. Monaghan.
Heading to The Patrick Kavanagh Centre in Inniskeen? Monaghan has plenty more to see. Read the Inniskeen area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.