Poor Archy - trapped in the body of a cockroach - reflects on the insanity and inanity of humanity as he records his memoirs on a newly-discovered typewriter.

Celebrating the humour & satire of New York’s Jazz Age as a one-person show, starring award-winning Patrick Kealey. Entertainment with bite!

Patrick Kealey welcomes you to a joyful celebration of Don Marquis' lyricism and wit.

This is a production that finds happiness in the ludicrous: fast-paced and razor-sharp, it takes you on a journey through life's foibles and the big stuff, whilst reminding everyone that life is for living - not to be taken for granted.

Patrick is celebrating a 50 year career on stage, and Archy is the party he wants to bring to the stage for audiences of all ages.

Patrick Kealey is an award-winning writer, actor, and director with critically acclaimed productions of Caravan of Love (2020), Fiction Romance (2021). He has recently been performing as Estragon in David Glass’ revival of Waiting For Godot, as well as preparing for his national tour of The Life & Rhymes of Archy & Mehitabel, a celebration of his broad-spanning professional career over the last 50 years.

WINNER - Best Theatre Performer – Buxton Fringe 2024

‘a wonder…unforgettable performance’ HIDDEN GEM FringeReview

Not to be missed

Patrick Kealey uses a variety of props, usually headgear, to portray first Archy, a New York cockroach who has discovered a typewriter and is indulging his poetic soul (he was a free form poet in his former life), and then the characters that inhabit the stories that Archy recounts, from Mehitabel the cat, to Freddy the rat, who sadly meets his end when a fearsome South American tarantula arrives with a shipment of bananas. There is a wonderful scene, recounted second hand from Pete the parrot, in a pub where Will (Shakespeare) bemoans the fact that he has to produce second-rate popular work instead of writing sonnets.

Archy and Mehitabel were created in 1916 by Don Marquis, a columnist writing for The Evening Sun newspaper in New York. Kealey has adapted the columns to provide a witty series of tales to be recounted in this one-man show. Archy’s observations contain some universal truths which are as relevant today as when they were written a century ago. In fact, even more relevant today when it comes to his final revelation about what the ants are really saying.

Kealey is a masterful performer, and his renditions of the different characters, especially Tom, the old theatre cat, are superb. His delivery of Marquis’ humorous tales kept the audience chuckling appreciatively throughout and make this a performance not to be missed.

Georgina Blair,
Buxton Fringe review