‘Big Maggie’ will never be forgotten

BIG Maggie Polpin is dead, but by Christ she won’t be forgotten.

In our house, a public house in William Street, Listowel, Co Kerry, acclaimed actor Anna Manahan was always Big Maggie.

The Keane clan is in mourning at the death of the feisty 84-year-old Waterford woman, who put the fear of God into directors and producers across the globe, and yet she always treated us with a tenderness that belied her fearsome but undeserved reputation.

We all knew that the real Big Maggie had lived up the street in another pub, but the woman who John B envisaged bringing the part to life on the stage was Anna Manahan. Events conspired so that she was not available in 1969 when Maggie Polpin first hit the stage in Dublin.

However, when she did finally play the role, created by John B to utilise her formidable stage presence and acting prowess, she took the stage by storm and set the benchmark by which all other Maggies would be judged. She has yet to be surpassed, a few, Brenda Fricker in particular, have given her a run for her money in the role.

Actresses loved John B. They adored him because he wrote so many wonderful parts for them in his plays. Right from the start Mena Glavin in Sive opened up new roles for leading women and Anna Manahan revelled in her interpretation of them.

When Anna and John B met, and the meetings grew more frequent as they grew older, it was as if two forces of nature mingled to crate an amazing calm. The level of mutual respect was enormous; the grá between the writer and actor was plain to see. One depended on the other for so much and it was evident that they regarded each other as equals.

When Anna called to visit, no one was in any doubt, but that the grand dame of the Irish theatre was in the house. Even so, she always knew us by first name and what we were up to, and as we grew older she remembered the names of all our children. Widowed at an early age she had no children of her own.

The life of an actor is a hard one. Anna Manahan knew all about living from hand-to-mouth when roles were scarce. Her old friend in Listowel, as was his way, sometimes gave a helping hand.

Then when she came into “some real money” as she put it herself, as a result of her Tony award-winning performances on Broadway, she offered assistance to John B but thankfully it was not needed. The genuine offer was appreciated because John B knew it came straight from the heart.

Someone will have to pen the words that will constitute Anna Manahan’s epitaph. In the opening scene of Big Maggie she tells the undertaker Byrne:

“Well Byrne there is enough lies written on the headstones of Ireland without my adding to them.”

Whoever writes Anna Manahan’s epitaph can rest easy. Regardless of how effusive the praise to be chiselled into the headstone of one of the finest actors Ireland ever knew, the superlatives will not add a single untruth to those already etched on the tombstones of Ireland.