De Bogman has been on and off the road for over twenty years now. Written by Brian and his long-time collaborator Máirtín de Cógáin, it was first performed in Cork on a blustery Halloween Night in 2000. Since then, it’s had two lengthy Irish tours, festival appearances in the UK, and runs in the US in California, Minnesota and off-Broadway.

De Bogman is probably the greatest boxing movie ever seen on the stage. It follows the story of Declan, an Irish village idiot who, after many adventures, ends up in the US fighting for the title of World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. De Cógáin narrates the tale while performing over twenty characters. A classic Irish-American rags-to-riches tale, there’s more twists in this one than on a west Cork road. It’s had them laughing in the aisles for over two decades at this stage.

We had planned to do a farewell tour to mark the 20th anniversary of the show. Which unfortunately was in 2020, so the pandemic thing put paid to that. So, instead, we’re aiming for a 25th Anniversary Tour in 2025. .

Brian had a bit of time on his hands during the pandemic, so he got busy doing a bit of playwrighting. When researching some children’s stories as part of an Agility Award (Arts Council Ireland), he got the idea of doing an adaptation of Giambattista Basile’s 17th century classic Tale of Tales. Then he got a Limerick Theatre Bursary (Limetree/Belltable & Limerick City Council) to develop the idea into a script.

Or scripts, more like, as the project has turned into a bit of a beast. Basile’s original consists of fifty court tales, a bawdy mixture of folk and fairy stories for grown-ups. Brian’s adaptation consists of eight short plays and is aimed at young theatre ensembles (youth theatres and student drama societies). Feel free to get in touch if you’re a young ensemble looking for a script.

Brian has always been a literary enthusiast. In 2020, he decided to started working on a stage adaptation of Pedro de Alarcón’s classic novella, The Three-cornered Hat. He was commissioned by Bilimankhwe International Theatre (UK) to write a 30-minute treatment of the story, which ended with a very successful showcase performance in Liverpool in 2021. The Bilimankhwe collective have since taken a break, but Brian decided to keep going himself and develop a full version which he hopes will be hitting the Irish stage in 2024-2025.

De Alarcón’s little-known novella is itself an adaptation of a traditional Andalusian folk tale. It’s a bawdy, hilarious story of sexual desire, intrigue, disguise and toxic masculinity. This version will be performed by four actors in a Commedia style.

Be Your Own Banana Theatre Company (BYOB) was founded in Cork in 2000 by Brian Desmond and Marcus Bale (that’s them to the right back in the day). BYOB specialised in developing and producing original work for the Irish stage and have been responsible for ten world premiéres since then. The company became known for its high-energy performances and unique blend of clowning and storytelling theatre. Our work has proved popular with audiences at home and abroad, in particular plays like De Bogman, The Ballad of Badger Bickle’s Youngfella, The Self-obsessed Tragedy of Ed Malone and Thailand: What’s Love Got To Do With It?

We’ve been fairly quiet in recent years, with our core artists scattering across the globe to start new projects. Next up is our 25th Anniversary Tour of De Bogman. And we’re hoping that will lead to further productions in 2025 and beyond.