{"id":588076,"date":"2026-08-09T15:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/588076\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T15:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:58:08","slug":"saw-doctors-songs-showcased-in-new-galway-stage-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/588076\/","title":{"rendered":"Saw Doctors’ songs showcased in new Galway stage show"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the ‘Green and Red of Mayo’ exploded onto the Irish charts this summer, hitting number one on Spotify, it seemed the entire country had adopted The Saw Doctors’ anthem for Mayo GAA.<\/p>\n

The current appeal across all generations provides the perfect backdrop for a musical theatre show in Galway about the life and times of the band.<\/p>\n

Shamtown is a blend of stories, memories and songs from the late 1980s and early 1990s.<\/p>\n

It takes its name from the affectionate slang word for Tuam, hometown of The Saw Doctors.<\/p>\n

This is a nostalgic rollercoaster of a journey showing how a bunch of ‘shams’ captured the nation’s heart with hit songs like N17 and Red Cortina.<\/p>\n

It’s the culmination of a long-time desire by Saw Doctors’ manager and Galway Arts Festival founder Ollie Jennings to get this stage show off the ground.<\/p>\n

He wrote the script and worked with the award-winning team of theatre director Andrew Flynn and musical director Carl Kennedy.<\/p>\n

Ollie says the show is inspired by the memories of people who worked in and experienced the arts scene in Tuam and Galway City.<\/p>\n

It culminates in the band’s homecoming at the 1991 West’s Awake festival in Tuam Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"Shamtown<\/p>\n

“I had been thinking about this show for months, years even. And I was fortunate enough to meet up and chat with people who wanted to tell me their stories. And there were so many anecdotes and memories all revolving around what is essentially the story of Tuam, a social history if you like. And I knew I could showcase it alongside the soundtrack of the songs of The Saw Doctors.”<\/p>\n

Shamtown is set in small town eighties Ireland when Tuam had a lively band scene until the recession took hold. The Tuam Sugar Factory closed and young people left rural Ireland in search of a better life. But the show is bursting with characterful storytelling and craic alongside all the greatest hits.<\/p>\n

Songs like To Win Just Once, Same Oul’ Town, Clare Island and I Useta Lover were belted out during a pilot run of the musical.<\/p>\n

The show also features the music of Blade X members Paul Cunniffe and Padraig Stevens.<\/p>\n

Actors and musicians workshopped and rehearsed stories and songs in front of a live audience and Ollie Jennings said “I had my first glimpse of the enormous potential of Shamtown”.<\/p>\n

\"Old
\nThe Saw Doctors’ memorabilia<\/p>\n

The cast of eight actors and three musicians include the drummer from The Saw Doctors, Rickie O’Neill, actors Jarlath Tivnan and Midie Corcoran, with singers Eilish McCarthy, Eoin Mullins and Emily Donoghue.<\/p>\n

The development of the project was grant aided by Galway City Council Arts Office, the Town Hall Theatre Patron scheme and an Agility Award that Ollie received from The Arts Council.<\/p>\n

Shamtown opens at the Mick Lally Theatre on Druid Lane, Galway City in November. Due to high demand the show has been extended to run 18 scheduled performances. All of these shows are now sold out.<\/p>\n

However, with the levels of love and affection for The Saw Doctors at a new all time high, Ollie Jennings might realise his long-term goal to see Shamtown tour the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the ‘Green and Red of Mayo’ exploded onto the Irish charts this summer, hitting number one on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":["post-588076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}