Legend of Dublin stage takes a bow
Online archive revisits the 1950s star Genevieve Lyons
One of the most distinguished names in Irish theatre in the 1950s was the highly talented and beautiful blonde actress and writer Genevieve Lyons, who died in 2018. She worked regularly with the Globe Theatre Company, founded in 1954 by actor Godfrey Quigley, whom she married the same year. NUI Galway has just launched an online archive of the diaries, letters, photos, press cuttings scripts and other documents from Genevieve’s career, donated by her daughter, Michele McCrillis, that give a unique insight into cultural Ireland and
‘A priest was sent direct to the theatre to request changes to The Ginger Man’
the social world of Dublin in the mid-twentieth century.
The Globe was specifically established to promote international as well as Irish theatre that was outside the routines of central Dublin. It was based in the small Gas Company Theatre in Dún Laoghaire, but regularly performed plays in the major Dublin theatres and in the Dublin Theatre Festival. One of the founders was Denis Brennan who, with his wife Daphne Carroll, produced the
Brennan acting dynasty, and Genevieve regularly performed with the likes of Micheál Mac Liammóir and, Milo O’Shea.
The Globe was an innovative company, but it ran into trouble in 1959 when it produced the stage version of the notorious novel The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy, in the Gaiety. It was due to run for two weeks but due to criticism of the sexual content from the public, and from the archbishop of Dublin, was taken off after three performances. Genevieve Lyons played the role of Marion Dangerfield, the antihero’s wife.
The language in the play might be described as outrageously florid in its sexual references. One critic described it as brilliant, one said it was nauseating, and another that it was slightly lunatic but more than slightly brilliant. Godfrey Quigley got great notices and one critic wrote that, ‘Genevieve Lyons picked her way expertly through the worst dialogue in the play’.
Until then, clerical interference had been indirect but effective in the absence of official censorship. But for The Ginger Man a priest was sent by the archbishop direct to the theatre to ask the manager and writer to make changes. Donleavy refused, and the manager of the Gaiety, facing the threat of public criticism, and with other decisions about money for the Abbey and Ardmore Studios depending on government support, felt he had no option but to close the show.
Disgusted, Quigley disbanded his Globe Company and went to England. After their marriage broke down, Genevieve became a successful writer and drama teacher, publishing over 20 novels. Let’s hope this archive gives a new life to an actress rarely mentioned now but who was a vital part of theatrical Dublin.