Fresh from his biggest Irish headline show to date in the National Concert Hall and leading up to his fourth studio album release next year, a person might think David Keenan would want to stay off the road for a bit.

But that person wouldn’t be familiar with the Dundalk singer-songwriter’s career, one which has seen him release a new album every year since his 2020 smash debut, A Beginner’s Guide To Bravery.

“There was an element, after The National Concert Hall, of not just waiting around to see what dice would be cast in the new year, of just taking the risk and getting on the road,” Keenan admits. “We’re touring artists — we don’t really sit on our hands. In fact, I think it’s one of the things we really struggle to do.

“We’re quite restless, but that’s good.”

The other half of the ‘we’ Keenan’s referring to is his long-term partner and creative collaborator Evanne Kilgallon, with whom the singer is setting off on the Geimhreadh Galore! Irish theatre tour later this month – a tour with some twists.

An actress, playwright and performer, Kilgallon’s work in recent years has skyrocketed her onto the forefront of the Irish theatre scene. Most recently, the young Irish actress has started filming a lead role in Chris O’Dowds new Sky TV show “Small Town, Big Story,” starring alongside Christina Hendricks and Paddy Considine.

“Geimhreadh Galore!” Irish theatre tour

In the midst of working on her first one woman play, “Jester’s Privilege,” the pair had a lightbulb moment: to come together and put on a gig unlike anything happening at the moment; to put on a night full of theatre, stand-up, music and poetry. And so Geimhreadh Galore! was born.

Speaking of the moment the idea came together, Keenan recalls, “I wanted to finish the year touring. I’m conscious of not repeating myself after The National Concert Hall gig, and there’s elements in my work — poetry, performance, theatre — those elements have been in my work over the years but have never really been condensed.”

“Evanne and I are living together, working together, and we’re witnessing ideas being born at the same time,” he shares. “She was developing ‘Jester’s Privilege,’ and I thought it could be an opportunity for us to come together.”

It’s no subjective statement to say that Keenan has a unique approach to live performance, with poetically-led lyricism that incorporates fictional realms into his work. Having previously laid out his own shows in three acts, and blending elements of theatre and poetry into his songwriting, he’s an artist that’s hard to define – a description he’s proud to cling onto.

“I’ve always said I won’t repeat myself because I think I’ve always enjoyed the element of danger and risk, and if there isn’t enough of that I don’t really feel confident, you know?” Keenan says. “I can’t go through the motions, for better or for worse.”

He certainly hasn’t repeated himself – with the music or the touring, despite working incessantly on both – and continues to commit to innovation with this new tour, merging theatre and music under one roof.

The couple’s creative collaboration took roots with Kilgallon’s debut play ‘An Lár,’ performed in the Glass Mask Theatre under artistic direction from Rex Ryan, with music written by Keenan.

Photo Credit: Ryan Hoban

“I had never written a full-length play before but I knew I wanted there to be elements of music in it because I’d started my training in musical theatre. It was quite a stressful time, wasn’t it?” the actress turns to Keenan with a laugh. “When we were bringing it together, David had just come off tour, everything was coming together quickly. I had never had any of my words put to music, so it was cool watching that transform.”

“Writing the music for ‘An Lár,’ it was important to get Evanne’s insight into the characters and the world she was trying to create, but this is a language that I’d be familiar with from the concepts of albums I’ve made and characters within my songs,” Keenan elaborates. “There was a synergy between us, and she gave me the freedom to be very spontaneous with the music.”

“We’d be sitting in the kitchen in our pyjamas, trying to figure out for the first time how to work together,” Kilgallon remembers of the pair’s first real collaboration. “What’s the dynamic, how much can we direct each other, when do we need to take a step back? But in the end, I’m really, really proud of what we did.”

“We’re very much in the trenches together, and have been for the last four or five years,” Keenan tags on.

Playing across five stages in Kilkenny, Dundalk, Dublin, Cork, and Limerick, the Geimhreadh Galore! tour will open with Kilgallon’s one-woman play, “Jester’s Privilege,” which is still in the works and has only been previewed to a small audience.

“I did a snippet of it at a new writing festival in Glass Mask Theatre, and what I realised onstage is it’s actually more like a piece of standup. I’ve never done that before, and I’ve always really admired standup comedians’ bravery because you’ve got no one to rely on but yourself,” Kilgallon shares.

Expanding on the merging of music with her theatrical performance, the playwright explains, “The character is sort of living in her own delusion, and while I don’t want it to be a musical in the way ‘An Lár’ was, I do want there to be musicians present.

“In the full picture,” she details, “I see them being part of her fantasy: sitting amongst the audience or by the soundbooth, and every now and then popping up to reinforce the idea to the audience that she has built this false reality around all of them.”

You’d expect a rising actress and writer to reveal a sign of nervous three weeks out from debuting an unfinished piece to a brand new audience, but if that’s the case, it’s all channelled into Kilgallon’s fervent self-confidence in her work’s potential.

“I know what I’m getting when I’m in a theatre, people know they’re coming for a show. It’s different at a music gig,” she says, admirably aware of what sort of crowd she might be standing before. “So I feel like it’s going to be a real challenge for me having a different set of eyes on this, but the hope is next year to do a full sixty to eighty minute piece. I’m hoping this will influence what way I want to go.

“I’m really curious to see how people are going to react to it,” she admits, giddy with excitement. “They could think I’m a total nutjob, but all the better for it.”

It’s that brand of raw authenticity and integrity to her work that makes it clear why the pair work so dynamically together. An artist who has always done it his own way, Keenan’s success has come from his words and music, without college to back him up or a major label signing – he operates as a wholly independent artist these days.

He’s kept his authenticity along the journey, which is a rare aspect in any striving artist. It helps to have a supportive extra backbone to lean on – which the pair have both found in one another.

This tour is a testament of strength for a young Irish pair who have watched the other grow over the past few years. “I love Evanne and we’re going to get to do this together. Beyond what we do on the stage, we’re a couple trying to support the other person,” Keenan shares. “When I go through my mania of whatever rush I get into spiritually or mentally, Evanne’s there. Evanne has had similar fears in her career, we’ve gone on the road together and she’s been a support, and I’ve been a support, too.”

Photo Credit: Ryan Hoban

“Evanne was there the night I launched my first album, she was there when I was writing and recording the second album, the third album, she’s seen the fourth album coming to life,” he reminisces.

Kilgallon tacks onto this, sharing, “And he saw me from my final year of college, when seeds were just being planted, and my first ever professional gig to the first play I wrote, which he wrote the music for as well. All of it up to where we find ourselves now.”

“This feels like a culmination of trust and respect,” Keenan shares. “And it’s also sharing. For me, two or three years ago I probably wasn’t in a position, maybe selfishly, where I would have wanted to share a show like this. I was too obsessed with my own thing, or I didn’t feel like I’d be able to pull something like this off.”

A place of assurance and self-confidence is exactly where one has to be in order to bring together two interconnected, though often separate audiences into one, intimate venue. And that’s the very place Keenan and Kilgallon find themselves now, prepping to take their “travelling circus” onto the road.

“We’re trying to put on something that is an unusual experience for an audience member. They’re still going to be able to sing the songs, but they’re also going to witness Evanne opening up with this new, experimental one woman performance, and it’s all going to bleed together,” Keenan shares of the show’s structure. “I’m not sure of any gigs at the moment that are doing that.”

And, with twists and turns in true Keenan style. The singer shares he’s working on a poetry piece for the show, which will be performed over ambient music from the live band and theatrical lighting.

Will the two pieces overlap? Kilgallon confirms, “I started writing this piece not yet knowing this tour would happen. We were talking recently about how we want to integrate the two pieces, and we’re definitely going to merge my piece into David’s piece. I think the plan is to bring some theatricality into the band’s half of the show, as well.”

“With this gig, it’s an amalgamation of all sorts of creativity and expression that have influenced me and Evanne over the years,” he says. “The desired outcome would be to create a world for the audience coming in, so they’re stepping into the theatre through the three acts of a play. There will be a bleed, and knowing us it will come together quickly and at the last minute.”

An immersive experience for fans of art and expression, the set of shows will take place in smaller venues than the singer-songwriter has played on his more recent tours. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with his audience in an intimate setting, and one he’s been seeking since the post-Covid mania of gigging.

“When the stages got bigger, with the 3Olympia gigs and festivals, there was a bit of a distance between me and the audience. That’s going to be removed,” he reveals. “Because the capacity of the venues are smaller than usual, I think it’s an opportunity for fans of my music to see and hear the songs in a different setting. And then to be able to experience the songs in a more theatrical way, with more attention to detail in terms of atmosphere.”

With no intermission, the show will start with Evanne’s theatrical performance at 8 o’clock and flow directly into Keenan’s set. While slightly different and vastly more unique than a typical gig, fans of Keenan’s will be happy to know that all the hits and singalongs are still part of the atypical plan.

“People will still be able to sing the hits, they’ll just be delivered in a different way as every gig is different,” the singer confirms. “We’ll be bringing in some songs off my fourth album that I’m working on at the moment, and there will be many moments to sing along and for jokes to be told.”

“It’s just going to be its own definite thing, this run of shows,” Keenan says, sharing the same excitement as his fans for the forthcoming tour.

“It could go into the new year, but if anyone has been a fan they should come and see because it will be really special. And with Evanne and the way she’s going, you won’t be able to get near her in a theatre next year.”

Tickets for David Keenan’s Geimhreadh Galore! Irish theatre tour with support from Evanne Kilgallon and her new one-woman play “Jester’s Privilege” are on sale now via www.davidkeenan.com and from each venue. Check out the full run of tour dates and venues below…

“Geimhreadh Galore!” Irish theatre tour

Geimhreadh Galore! The Irish Theatre Tour

25 Nov – Set Theatre, Kilkenny
26 Nov – An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk
27 Nov – Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin
08 Dec – Triskel Christchurch, Cork
22 Dec – Belltable, Limerick