Story of the singing Irish clown retold

PARTS of the story of balladmaker, songwriter, musician and circus entertainer, Johnny Francis Patterson, will be relived in Glór next week.
Johnny Francis Patterson – The Singing Irish Clown by Little John Nee and Barrabas Productions is a new show paying homage to the forgotten genius and extraordinary life the Clare circus performer had died in 1889 at 49 years of age. Although his story may have been forgotten, many of his hit songs can still be heard today such as The Garden Where the Praties Grow, Goodbye Johnny Dear or The Stone Outside Dan Murphy’s Door.
A spokeswoman for Glór said the show brings Little John Nee’s characteristically easy mix of humour, poignancy and lyricism to this new show, throwing light on the captivating magic and the harsh reality of a life devoted to performance and entertainment.
As a very young boy, Johnny Patterson already displayed an interest in music and at 14 years of age, his uncle enrolled him as a drummer boy in an army regiment (the 63rd Foot Infantry) which was based in Limerick. He learned to play various instruments but was particularly competent on piccolo and drums.
When John Swallow’s circus came to Limerick, Johnny got a part-time job in the circus band. Having spent five years in the regiment, he bought his way out of the army for £20. While on tour in Cork with The Swallow Circus, Johnny gave a solo performance in which he told jokes and sang songs. His musical ability and his rapport with the audience was evident and he was given a two-year contract. He was billed as The Irish Singing Clown.
He created a new image, discarding the traditional costume of the clown and replacing it with a tweed outfit embroidered with shamrocks and a Celtic harp. He wore white knee-length stockings and a cone-shaped hat. A drooping handlebar moustache completed his ensemble. His new style of clowning, his Irish songs and his unique wit made him a popular entertainer and soon, he was composing his own songs.
The Swallow Circus left Ireland and Johnny found work with Batty’s Circus and then Risarelli’s Circus and the Pablo Franque Circus offered him an engagement in Liverpool in 1869. There he met up with a brother and sister bareback riding-duo from Scotland, James and Selena Hickey, with whom he had worked with Swallow’s Circus. By the end of the season, Johnny and Selena had fallen in love and were soon married in Liverpool.
At the age of 35, Johnny Patterson was a national success. News of his talent reached the American owner of a big circus, Cooper and Bailey’s, where Johnny was offered a contract and departed for America in 1876.
His song The Stone outside Dan Murphy’s Door tells of his youth in Ennis and a shop known as a meeting place for boys and girls. He used The Rambler from Clare as his signature tune. It was a song which he had learned as a boy. He played to packed audiences all over America and was billed as Johnny Patterson – the Rambler from Clare.
In 1989, the centenary of his death, the Ennis Arts Festival paid tribute to Ireland’s famous clown and used a circus theme for their programme of events.
The play is produced by Barrabas Theatre Production Company, who explained that the story was inspired by an exhibition of circus paintings by Jack B Yeats in The National Gallery, which director Raymond Keane visited, becoming enthralled by a portrait of Johnny Patterson and the story of his life in the exhibition catalogue.
“This presentation charts the highs and lows of an extraordinary circus performer, telling of his triumphs and tragedies inside and outside the ring,” the Glór spokeswoman said.
Patterson went on to become one of the highest paid entertainers of his time and amassed huge wealth through royalties from his hit songs.
At the end of a life marked by great triumphs and great tragedies in equal measure, Johnny returned to Parnell’s Ireland to fulfill his dream of touring with his own circus. Moved by the politics of his homeland, the idealistic Johnny penned a song urging loyalists and nationalists to put their differences aside. He paid for his political commentary with his life, as an angry and bitter reaction from the crowd turned to violence and retaliation.
The show is directed by Raymond Keane, one of the founding members and artistic director of Barrabas Theatre Company and starts writer, performer and musician Little John Nee.
The play will be staged in Glór on May 13 and 14. Tickets are available from the Glór box office on www.glor.ie or 065 6843103.