To stay updated on future episodes, follow us on: TikTok Instagram YouTube Artist bio Laura Wyatt O’Keeffe is a multi-award-nominated Irish theatre-maker, actor, drag king and DJ whose work spans theatre, cabaret, live art and immersive performance. Raised in Cork and trained at East 15 Acting School, she has built a career creating and performing work that blends storytelling, ritual, humour and audience interaction. Her practice moves between conventional acting, devised theatre and drag performance, often exploring identity, community, belief and connection. Through her drag king character Father Jesse, Laura reimagines Irish Catholic ritual through a queer, comic and deeply human lens, bringing performance into theatres, clubs and other unexpected spaces. Episode summary In this episode of The Variety Show, Adam Sternberg speaks with Laura Wyatt O’Keeffe about her path from childhood theatre in Cork to acting, theatre-making and drag performance. Surrounded by rehearsal rooms from an early age through her playwright and director aunt, Laura grew up watching stories being built from the inside and began performing herself while still very young. She reflects on how those early experiences shaped her understanding not only of acting, but of audience, structure and the wider world of performance. The conversation follows her journey through university and drama school, where she trained as an actor while also beginning to make her own work. Laura speaks candidly about ambition, fame, funding and the difficult balance between artistic vision and practical survival, as well as the privileges that time, money and access can bring to making great work. A major turning point came during and after the pandemic, when Laura found herself drawn more strongly to drag and cabaret than to traditional theatre. Through her drag king character Father Jesse, an Irish Catholic priest delivering mass in unexpected settings, she discovered a form that allowed for deeper audience interaction, humour, ritual and shared experience. Together, Adam and Laura explore religion, performance, community, queer identity and the power of art to help audiences recognise themselves in unfamiliar worlds. The episode closes with an Irish language lesson and a discussion of Laura’s work beyond performance, including an opera-based breathing programme supporting people with long Covid. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Father Jesse and the themes of ritual, identity and connection 00:01 Laura Wyatt O’Keeffe’s career across theatre, drag and DJing 00:02 Growing up in Cork and being surrounded by theatre from childhood 00:04 Early performing experiences and learning by watching rehearsal rooms 00:09 The Irish arts scene, cultural identity and support for artists 00:11 University, East 15 and developing as an actor and maker 00:17 Fame, resources and the realities of sustaining an artistic career 00:19 The pandemic, drag, cabaret and discovering a new performance language 00:23 Audience impact, live connection and why interaction matters 00:26 Creating Father Jesse and using drag to explore religion, ritual and queerness 00:31 Performing for different audiences and challenging assumptions 00:38 Returning to acting and balancing long-form theatre with drag 00:39 Irish language lesson and lighter moments 00:40 Work beyond the stage, including opera and long Covid breathing sessions 00:44 Artistic influences, storytelling and what performance can do If you want, I can also reduce these timestamps to 10 to match the format you used for the other episode.
