REVIEW: Homo(sapien) by Conor O’Dwyer at Theatre 503 until 9 May

‘Joey never quite made it to London … but boy oh, boy are we glad that O’Dwyer did’ ★★★★★

Poised upon the church doorstep in Galway wearing a mesh top, Joey is afraid that he won’t be let in. A queer, Irish, Catholic lad, struggling to merge these three worlds together, he’s armed only with a hurling stick painted with flowers and the mascara that runs down his face. Emerging playwright Conor O’Dwyer, holds their first solo show Homo(sapien) up to the limelight — a queer coming of age story that twists in and out of humour or tears — with a joyous charm worthy of a Dublin session, complete with fiddle, folklore and song.

In the story, Joey never made it to London, cancelling his place at Kings College London to remain in the town of his birth alongside his best friend, frightened of the big smoke and leaving everything behind. But boy oh, boy, are we glad, quite selfishly, that O’Dwyer did.

Take the absurd from Samuel Beckett, sprinkle it with Judith Butler, queer joy and transformation, till you get a simple, stripped-down set of three chairs alongside a cross covered with flowers in the background supporting O’Dwyer’s sprawling narrative. It moves about in time like Joey moves in and out of accepting his identity. The show has had its own journey, bouncing about Ireland and the British Isles from Dublin’s Gay Theatre Festival last May and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival during July, complemented by O’Dwyer’s screen work. Celtic Tiger in the arts scene may have just found one of its new faces.

Let’s pick at a few cherries on top of this play from frankly a whole cake of cherries: The top of a chair is used to form the water level (to remarkable effect) when Joey is up to his neck in the sea through his tears on a nasty come down; in a repeated skit Jesus enters Joey’s consciousness as a camp, guardian angel, warding him off taking the plunge and losing his virginity, battled by a libido produced through a strange but hilarious Scottish accent (Shakespeare fans please remember Launcelot Gobbo from The Merchant of Venice); a hurling stick, a memorable token from childhood, performs the function of a penis for multiple urinal scenes, where Joey meets other men. Nothing on stage is mere ornamentation. Nothing is decoration without purpose. Everything is truly in its right place. It’s a lesson on what to do on a tight pub theatres budget.

The tech desk also taps to this tune. Lighting motifs, appearing again and again throughout to signal club nights, times that Joey was beaten up for his sexuality and church interiors, that snap or crackle with Jen McGregor’s tight stage direction. Colour builds up like a musical motif highlighting different moments from the past with different perspectives.

There is something Wilde about O’Dwyer. A natural stage presence, a witty pun always waiting on his tongue. He challenges not only the institutions of his past with a cool, considered script and with endless empathy but generational trauma, cascading down from parents, children, teachers, suggesting if the queer community are forced into hiding, then the ricochet spreads so much further and wider. I can firmly say that this should be the beginning of a spectacular career.



Presented by Genesis Theatre Productions and Conor O’Dwyer

HOMO (SAPIEN)

Written and performed by Conor O’Dwye

Theatre503 5 – 9 May 2026

BOX OFFICE https://theatre503.com/whats-on/homosapien/

Creative Team:

Writer/Performer: Conor O’Dwyer

Director: Jen McGregor

Producer: Michelle McKay

Lighting Designer: Abbie Lowe

Technical Operator: Jen McGregor

Sound Designer: Parasol Wu

Set Designer: Sandra Karolak