The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Bringing Maureen’s fighting spirit to Listowel
FERGUS DENNEHY TALKS TO ACTRESS ELAINE O’DWYER ABOUT HER NEW SHOW BASED ON THE LIFE OF THE ONE AND ONLY MAUREEN O’HARA WHICH SHE WILL BE BRINGING TO ST JOHN’S THEATRE IN LISTOWEL.
FOR most people of an older generation, the name Maureen O’Hara is iconic, her image seared into their hearts and minds and her story the stuff of legend.
For those out there not too familiar with the story of the Irish actress, she was a star of Hollywood’s Golden Age and was known for her starring roles in films such as ‘The Quiet Man’ ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ and ‘The Parent Trap’.
It is the part she played as in what we now know as the ‘#MeToo’ movement - she often spoke out about the sexual harassment in the 1940’s - that has really cemented her status as one of ‘the’ icons of the 20th century.
This #MeToo connection was also what drew Elaine O’Dwyer to the story of Maureen in the first place.
Now, as we celebrate 100 years of the Dublin-born mega star - she was born on August 17 1920 - a Limerick born actress, Elaine O’Dwyer has taken it upon herself to bring the story of Maureen to a whole new generation and audience.
Elaine will perform her show ‘Queen of Technicolor -The Story of Maureen O’ Hara’ in St John’s Theatre on Friday March 20.
It was Maureen’s passing in
October 2015 that served as the catalyst for Elaine to write the show, which has received huge critical acclaim right across the board.
She spoke to us here in The
Kerryman last week about what she says drew her to Maureen.
“I’m 28-years-old so I was not part of her generation and did not grow up with her films. But when she actually passed away in 2015, I was in a rehearsal studio in Guildford and I remember reading something online about her death and it just hit me,” said Elaine.
“I hadn’t even realised that she was still alive even so when I heard she had died, the cogs in my brain started turning and I thought ‘god, I actually don’t know much about this woman’. I started looking up different things about her and when I read her autobiography in 2017, it was when all the scandals in Hollywood were surfacing, all the Weinstein stuff,” she said.
“I was reading this book and I was reading articles from 2017 and the similarities were very overwhelming and I thought that not much has changed in all these years,” she continued.
Hailing the star as someone who was way ahead of her time with the issues that she spoke out about over 70 years before they became the movement that it is today, Elaine said that some of the types of characters that Maureen met during her career are very similar to people that she herself has encountered as an actress in the present day.
Calling O’Hara a “trailblazer” for her work, Elaine was then inspired to put pen to paper on her show which has had critics calling it “an emotional roller-coaster” and a “beautiful piece of theatre”.
As for those who feel that they might not know enough about Maureen to come along, Elaine said that the beauty of the show is that it covers her life from the very beginning.
“They really don’t need to know anything about her if they’re coming to the show. In relation to any celebrity that we see in all the magazines and everything, you can say that you know them but you really only know them at a surface level,” she said.
“While this story is obviously about the life of Maureen O’Hara, it’s also very much about the life of a celebrity as well and what you see in the headlines isn’t actually what’s happening in real life. They might be going through horrific things personally and on the outside they have to smile and make sure they look okay and portray that life is wonderful. With this show, I just want to juxtapose those two sides, those façades,” said Elaine.
“When they come out of the theatre, I hope that they’ll feel that they know Maureen O’Hara to a greater, greater extent than they thought they did. I’m absolutely not going to shy away from the darker side of things at all,” she said.
The audience will witness how O’Hara navigated her way from humble Irish beginnings to reach the top of the Hollywood tree whilst remaining true to herself and steering clear of the dreaded casting couch.
Within a stream of chronological and flashback scenes, O’ Dwyer portrays over twenty characters in this tour-de-force, which will take you on an intimate journey with Maureen and revealing the real woman behind the limelight.
Adding something even more special to the show is that the vanity case that is used in the show is actually the original case which belonged to O’ Hara.
Elaine first performed ‘Queen of Technicolor- The Story of Maureen O’ Hara’ in November 2018 at Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick to mark the third year anniversary of Maureen O’ Hara’s passing.
Tickets for the show are available to buy through the St John’s Theatre website.
I was reading this book and I was reading articles from 2017 and the similarities were very overwhelming and I thought that not much has changed in all these years.