A powerful new show from theatre renegades THISISPOPBABY about the living legend, club impresario, DJ, activist and Godfather of Gay in Ireland, Tonie Walsh.

Tonie Walsh has been making a show of himself his whole life. He has thrown Dublin’s most seminal parties, from Flikkers to Elevator to H.A.M. He came second place in the inaugural Alternative Miss Ireland in 1987, and has even stood for election at local and national level. The city is his playground and his stage.

Known as Ireland’s Godfather of Gay, Tonie Walsh is a living legend. For decades he has fought tirelessly for civil rights – for housing rights, women’s rights, and queer rights – while the country changed around him.

Legendary DJ, club impresario, historian, activist and master storyteller; Tonie tells the story of Ireland’s seismic social change from someone who has lived through it, gloriously, after dark. And he’s here to tell us why there’s still fire in his belly.

Tonie Walsh has been involved in the LGBT civil rights movement since 1979, spending his 20s immersed in Dublin’s Hirschfeld Centre, the capital’s major social, political and cultural resource for lesbians and gay men. At the age of 24, he became the first openly gay person to stand for election to Dublin City Council.

A former president of the National LGBT Federation (NXF), Walsh was also the founding editor of GCN, Ireland’s most successful and longest-running LGBT publication. In 1997, he re-organised NXF’s archival holdings into what would later become known as the Irish Queer Archive. The archive was transferred to state ownership in 2008.

A longtime advocate for improved sexual health strategies and outspoken critic of government inertia around new HIV and STI infections, Tonie publicly declared his HIV Poz status on World AIDS Day 2015. The following year he launched a campaign to build an Irish AIDS Memorial.

This one-man show runs from 27 November till 1 December at Project Arts Centre, Dublin. Tickets from €15-€20, with €12 Early Bird offer until 10 September or while stocks last. On sale now from www.thisispopbaby.com