DUBLIN FRINGE 2026: Review: GLEEK OF THE WEEK, Glass Mask Theatre

At 17, finding a lifeline in pop culture can mean the difference between surviving school and being completely consumed by it. In Gleek of the Week, writer and performer Conor Burke looks back from his 30-year-old vantage point as he packs up his teenage bedroom to examine his 2012 obsession with Glee. Navigating the high-stakes emotional landscape of growing up closeted in an all-boys Irish school, Burke delivers a coming-of-age musical packed with quiet charm, deadpan humor, and razor-sharp self-awareness.

What makes the piece land so effectively is its deep understanding of why Ryan Murphy’s polarising phenomenon mattered. It was not just the flashy numbers, but a blueprint for self-expression and visibility for anyone who feels different or outside the box. Like many of us who convinced ourselves we were Rachel Berry simply because we were annoying and unpopular, rather than possessing any Broadway-bound vocal talent, Burke captures that exact teenage cocktail of sheer ambition, delusion, and desperate longing.

The production wraps genuine vulnerability in a deliberate, heightened energy that matches its teenage subject. Director Lianne O'Shea makes clever use of the intimate Glass Mask Theatre, turning a bedroom cluttered with Toy Story wallpaper and a Wicked programme into an expansive emotional landscape. (If you're a die-hard theatre fan like me, staring at that Wicked programme leaves you eagerly wondering what other theatre programmes line his shelves and wanting to compare collections). Original songs by Shauna Carrick integrate smoothly into the narrative arc, externalising internal panic with catchy conviction. Burke carries the material with immense charm, relying on micro-pauses and lightning-fast physical beats to deliver the laughs.

The show's intense specificity is its greatest strength, making it feel less like a transferable script and more like a self-biographical drama built entirely around Burke’s unique perspective. While 17-year-old Conor asks wide-eyed questions of his future self, hearing more direct counter-commentary from the adult Burke could add an extra layer of dramatic spice. Still, you can enjoy it whether you were a closeted Irish teenager in 2012 or not, and even if you are not a Glee fan - though if you are not, the question remains: why aren't you?

Gleek of the Week ran at Glass Mask Theatre from September 7 to September 19 as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2026.

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