Seamus O Rourke

IN

JOHN B. KEANE'S

THE LOVE HUNGRY FARMER

John Bosco McLaine is a man who has never lain down with a woman, but has had romantic blood pulsing through his veins all his life. Always an optimist, and virgin in equal measure, he embarks on a search for an ideal companion regardless of age, failure rate or dammed advice!… and in a community where advice is ample and women few, he follows his heart in an ultimate bid to procure himself a wife. 


Often referred to as the natural successor to John B Keane as Ireland’s masterful present day storyteller, Seamus O’Rourke brings to life in this production the wistful, blundering, romantic John Bosco McLean, matching stride for stride Keane’s fantastic wit and way with words in  an uproarious evening of laughter, love,  hope and desire…


BOOKING LINKS BELOW ....


Learn more

John B. Keane

is one of Ireland’s best-loved and best-selling authors was born in 1928 in Listowel , Co. Kerry. He spent his literary career running a pub in Listowel which provided him with much of the inspiration for his characters and ideas.

John B. Keane ranks among the great Irish writers. His plays include Sive, The Field and Big Maggie.


His Letters series of books were a spectacular success, with The Love Hungry Farmer being particularly outstanding.



RTE RADIO 1


OLIVER CALLAN SHOW


SEAMUS O ROURKE 


17th Feb 2026


https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22585125/



REVIEW


Liam Murphy –


The Munster Express –


The Love Hungry Farmer



Seamus O'Rourke brought


his latest iteration of John B

.

 Keane-inspired drama to the


 Gealach Gorm Theatre in


Kill. His one-man show, The


Love Hungry Farmer, was


mesmeric as he spoke to the


 moon; at times cold and


aloof and at other times,


warm and consoling.


O'Rourke has carved out a


wonderful niche of rural


nostalgia with his shows,


and he is the consummate


performer, intimate and


funny, with touches of the


frailty and anger of lives


sidelined. He has the twinkle


of Eamonn Kelly, the


 storyteller, and the salty


asides of Conal Gallen. He


recreates and becomes


 characters with an uncanny


accuracy and veracity,


sometimes with just a


knowing movement of the


eyes.



Directed by Michael Scott,


O'Rourke arrived onstage as


John Bosco McLaine and


spoke to the moon and the


audience about his trials and


 tribulations in the search for


 love and companionship in


small rural townlands.


He was well dressed in a shirt and tie, a matching jacket and trousers, and a soft hat. He outlined his failures and his qualities, a profit-making farm and smallholding and declared himself a "good catch".

He dispelled any grandiose notions and, at times, ranted at townie interlopers and women as predators since the dawn of time. He described women who dangled the 'carrot' of allure that "salivated" his dreams.


There was the local dance hall with its "dribbling saxophone player", an oasis and Eldorado, despite the bucks of the town. He ruefully suggested that "God is a townie too".


A kiss was a longed-for desire to excite his "underused undercarriage". He had the audience in stitches and guffaws of hilarity with risque stories in the love arena, dances, pubs, hotels, adventures at the Galway Races and the Spring Show. There was advice from chancers, charmers and matchmakers. His sessions in confession were poignant and pointed, and the priest, Father Kimmerly, was no prissy aloof autocrat.


This was powerful and entertaining.






Seamus O’Rourke  is a writer, director and actor. As a writer, his plays include Ride On (Livin’ Dred 2011), dig, Down and The Trappe Family (The Corn Mill Theatre), The Halfway House Hotel and Stale Mate (Canal Studio-Backstage Theatre), For Club and County (Moth Productions), dig, Victor’s Dung (Big Guerilla Productions) and his four One-Man-Shows; The Sand Park, Padraig Potts’ Guide to Walking, INDIGESTION and My Aunt Bee (Big Guerilla Productions).

As a director, he has directed with The Corn Mill Theatre, Backstage Theatre, Moth Productions and his own company, Big Guerilla Productions. Apart from his own material, those plays include The Cavalcaders and A Handful of Stars by Billy Roche, Stolen Child by Bairbre Ní Chaoimh and Yvonne Quinn, The Pitch by Shane Connaughton, Arrah Na Pogue by Dion Boucicault, The Quare Land, Danger Money and The Cavan Curse by John McManus.

Acting roles include; Junior (Conversations on a Homecoming by Tom Murphy), Artie (Belfry by Billy Roche), Jim (The Weir by Conor McPherson), John(Shining City by Conor McPherson), RTE Best Actor 2010, Pato Dooley (The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh) RTE Best Supporting actor 2011. Victor Maguire (Ride On and Victor’s Dung) and Tom (dig)…all written by himself. Philly (The Pitch by Shane Connaughton), Hugh Pugh (The Quare Land by John McManus), The Bishop (The Field by John B Keane), Maurteen (The Kings of the Kilburn High Road by Jimmy Murphy) both at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin. He played Man (The Mysterious History of Things by Jack Harte). He has played Teddy ‘The Mucker’ Tucker in John McManus’s one-man play, Danger Money and Rua in The Cavan Curse by the same author.

In 2018 Seamus penned and produced two new shows; From Under the Bed and And Thank You…. In early 2019 Seamus toured Ireland with Livin’ Dred’s production of Trad by Mark Doherty, directed by Aaron Monaghan. In the summer of 2019 he toured again with the self-penned My Aunt Beeand in autumn with An Ogeous Brose by John McManus.

Seamus has also over two million hits on YouTube and Social Media with his short stories, recitations and sketches. He recently released A Lock of Poems, Recitations and Good Ones – a collection of his much-loved poems and recitations and in 2020 he released his memoir Standing in Gaps. 

In September 2024 Seamus released his much anticipated sequel to his popular first memoir, Standing in Gaps. Leaning on Gates is published by Gill Books and available nationwide and online via his shop.