A MAN desperate to be noticed finds an audience on social media — and discovers that the further he drifts from reality, the more attention he gets.
That is the premise of Irish playwright Derek Masterson’s adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s Diary of a Madman, which comes to London’s Old Red Lion Theatre this month following a run at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Irish actor Mark McAuley performs and directs the one-man show, which moves the story to contemporary Ireland. Gogol’s troubled clerk becomes a lonely corporate worker, nursing professional disappointments and looking for recognition.
The diary of the original gives way to social-media posts, follower counts and livestreams. As humiliation hardens into grievance, he finds an online audience willing to encourage his increasingly distorted view of the world.
Mark McAuley in Diary of A MadmanMasterson’s adaptation uses dark comedy, physical theatre and multimedia to explore isolation, prejudice and the lure of online validation.
For McAuley, the production also has a personal connection. He began his acting training at Dublin’s Focus Theatre, where his first coach and mentor was Tim McDonnell, who won an Obie Award for his own performance in Diary of a Madman in New York in 1989.
McAuley sees the production partly as a tribute to the actor who helped shape his early career.
“Edinburgh gave us 26 performances to really understand and develop the show in front of an audience,” he said.
“At its heart, it’s still Gogol’s lonely man who desperately wants to be seen, except now he finds an online world willing to reward his increasingly distorted view of reality.”
McAuley’s screen credits include Vikings and Into the Badlands. He also wrote, directed and appeared in the feature film aWake.
The London run comprises six performances from November 24–28, including a Saturday matinee. The show runs for an hour without an interval and is recommended for audiences aged 16 and over.
Tickets cost £20, with £17 concessions. For bookings and performance times, visit weareoldred.co.uk.
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