Homo(Sapien)
★★★★☆ Wholehearted
Assembly Roxy (Venue 139): 30 July – 24 Aug 2025
Review by Rebecca Mahar.
Written and performed by Conor O’Dwyer, Homo(sapien) is a darkly comedic monodrama about identity, sex, and the tribulations of growing up queer in a society that’s both hateful and accepting.
O’Dwyer hurtles onto the stage as Joey, panting and at the threshold of — something. It’s not clear yet, as he freezes, about to knock on an invisible door. Unable to complete the motion, he turns to the audience in the Snug Bar of Assembly Roxy.
Conor O’Dwyer in Homo(sapien). Pic: Nyah O’Connor.
“I think I might shit myself. Or be sick. Or both,” he gasps out. And the tone of the show, directed by Jen McGregor, is firmly set.
It transpires that Joey is in the midst of an existential crisis related to his sexuality: “I’m a bad gay,” he asserts repeatedly; “I’ve never had sex.” He quickly introduces us to his childhood friend, Mary, with whom he’s reconnecting “cos her mam’s finally died.”
Then before we know it, Joey launches into a recitation of his entire life of gay panic growing up in Galway, from the age of eight, when he and friend Michael were first accused of being so by other boys on the hurling team. There’s a bit of whiplash in how O’Dwyer transitions to this first memory, both by virtue of it being a bit clunky, and partly because the first sequence when he plays multiple characters — Joey and Mary in the pub — has been a little awkward, not quite as snappy as it wants to be.
aware
The performance quickly smooths out, however, as O’Dwyer hits his stride in the childhood phase of the piece. His definition of the different people in Joey’s story becomes clearer, as does the story itself, when the young boy becomes aware that being gay is a thing, and he’s it.
Conor O’Dwyer in Homo(sapien). Pic: Nyah O’Connor.
From Joye’s innocent attraction to Michael, to his immediate lust for teacher Mr. O’Driscoll, to his realization that the former isn’t so innocent anymore, O’Dwyer packs all the wonder and confusion of adolescent sexual awakening into an astonishingly short amount of time, with enviable clarity.
Along with the wonder, there is fear: Joey relates an incident in which a young gay man was beaten to death in Dublin, and the bone-deep fear this instils into him. He plans, then fails, to move away to London; he experiences love, loss, failure, and finally freedom and revelation while tripping balls at a club. He arrives back where he started: on the threshold of the church for Mary’s mam’s funeral, covered in mesh and sick and highlighter.
faces his fear
Mary’s mam is the only death in this show: there’s no bury your gays to be found here, no capitalization on queer pain, or the fetishization of trauma. Joey faces his fear, which he thought he needed “to run from, to emigrate from, or to have fucked out of me;” accepts himself for the disaster he is and finds that, just maybe, there’s not as much to fear as he thought.
O’Dwyer’s unbridled, unashamed performance ticks all the boxes: heartfelt, hilarious, with just the right amount of hijinks to keep its audience guessing. It’s not pure queer joy, but what life is? Honesty and chaos reign in this surefire hit, so saddle up and prepare for the ride. Pun intended.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Assembly Roxy (Snug Bar), 2 Roxburgh Place EH8 9SU (Venue 139).
Thursday 30 July – Sunday 24 August 2025.
Daily (not Mon 12, Mon 19): 1.10pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Book here on EdFest.com.*
*affiliate link.
Conor O’Dwyer in Homo(sapien). Pic: Nyah O’Connor.
ENDS
