Shaw Festival London 2026: Shakes Versus Shav – Film Screening + Q&A

Damian Farrell
Damian Farrell has over thirty years of experience in television and film as a director, puppeteer and animator and serves as the creative director at Irish production company, Caboom. A former animation artist with Don Bluth and a Jim Henson-trained puppeteer, Damo’s breadth of experience across many different media has seen him work as a principal puppeteer on the ‘Star Wars’, ‘Dark Crystal’, ‘Muppet’ and ‘Jurassic World’ franchises as well as projects with LucasFilm, Bad Robot, Disney, Sesame Workshop, BBC, CBBC. He has directed the BAFTA-winning series of Gigglebiz; for CBeebies and the original series of CBBC’s ‘Class Dismissed’. Damo has also produced the multi award-winning stop-motion short film ‘Second To None’. And he has recently completed directing his third series of the RTS Award-winning Irish comedy series ‘Storybud’ for Kite Entertainment and RTÉJr and the first series of preschool puppet series ‘Dodge’s Pup School’ for BBC.

Gerry Hoban
Gerry Hoban is a highly-acclaimed Irish documentary director & writer with more than 25 years of international experience. Most recently, Gerry has directed a haunting look back at Ireland’s worst air disaster at Tuskar Rock; a reappraisal of the Death of Michael Collins; a series on former State Pathologist, Marie Cassidy; an exploration of 100 years of Northern Ireland with Miriam O’Callaghan; an examination of the Irish love of swearing with Ardal O’Hanlon; and was story editor on the acclaimed ‘Let The Rest of The World Go By’. Gerry won awards and universal critical acclaim for ‘A Fanatic Heart’ – Bob Geldof’s exploration of the life and work of WB Yeats, and ‘My Astonishing Self’ – Gabriel Byrne’s thoughtful and impassioned piece on George Bernard Shaw. He also helmed the major international historical documentary Countdown to Calvary, presented by Hugh Bonneville; and Joe Duffy’s poignant tributes to the children that died during both The Troubles and The Easter Rising.

Directors Statement
Gerry: ‘I feel Shaw is a little under-appreciated in the country of his birth – perhaps because he had the temerity to leave Dublin at the age of 20! He wrote ‘Shakes Versus Shav’ the year before he died, in an attempt to reclaim some of his legacy in the overbearing shadow of Shakespeare: hopefully this little film will help solidify that immortality he yearned for… and earned!’
Damian: ‘At a time when Ai is challenging creativity, and when digital creatures and highly sophisticated physical animatronic puppets are so commonplace in film-making, we really wanted to see if we could create something with hand-made, “rudimentary” puppets that could deliver an endearing performance on a big screen to remind audiences how fascinating puppets can be. The finger prints of everyone involved in the project are there on the big screen for audiences to relish’.