The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
THE DICEMAN AND THE ROSE
WHILE many incredible Irish performers have graced the Rose of Tralee down the years in the 1980s and 1990s one man consistently stole the show when it came to street entertainment.
Thom “The Diceman” McGinty is perhaps best known for his incredible street art performances on Dublin’s Grafton Street but for years he was a fixture at the Rose of Tralee.
McGinty earned his moniker when he began work as a living advert for Dublin store The Diceman Games shop.
He first specialised in standing stock still and in complete silence and in costume for hours on end like a living statue disturbing his immobility only to perform a trademark saucy, pantomime wink to reward anyone who dropped a few coins at his feet.
He would later develop a remarkable slow motion walk – dubbed as immobility in motion – which would see him slowly move up and down Grafton Street as hundreds of fascinated shoppers watched on in wonder.
That distinctive slow motion walk was McGinty’s cheeky and clever response to Gardaí who had regularly moved him on as the crowds he drew often obstructed the street.
Moving on from his work for the Diceman shop McGinty went on to develop many other characters and he would also regularly get in costume to promote various issues and political causes including gay rights, the imprisonment of the Birmingham Six and human rights in Tibet.
His appearances in Tralee were typically not political and were far more about entertaining the crowds. Something he did with great gusto in outfits ranging from Dracula costumes (as seen in the pictures on this page which were taken in 1991 and kindly provided to the Kerryman by Pat Walsh) to lightbulbs, teapots and even at one point the Mona Lisa.
McGinty was diagnosed with HIV in 1990. He died in his sleep – aged just 42 – on February 20 1995. Before his funeral his coffin, followed by hundreds of his friends and fans, was carried the length of Grafton Street.
Many hundreds of tributes were paid to Mc Ginty after his death. One of the most stirring came from Kerry poet Brendan Kennelly who wrote the following:
“As far as Grafton Street is concerned, Thom McGinty is the still point of the turning world.”
“In the Diceman’s presence, it is impossible not to ignore hustle and haste, hurry and hurry’s mother. What other human being could turn busy old Grafton Street into an open-air temple of rapt attention? And what other human being could transform stolid, speculative middle age into pure childhood wonder? Time and again, bang in the middle of Grafton Street, I have been happy to join other children gazing on this figure, either utterly immobile or moving with a slowness so perfectly measured as to be almost imperceptible. Thom McGinty’s magic has to do with his ability to mesmerise his audience, to lure them out of their busy city selves and to take them away into that land of perfect stillness where marvellous dreams are as normal as Bewley’s sticky buns.”
The Diceman’s long involvement with the Rose of Tralee is commemorated with a plaque (now sadly cracked) in the footpath outside the AIB branch at the junction of Denny Street and The Mall.