Mary O'Malley (playwright)

See also: Mary O'Malley

Mary Josephine O'Malley (born 19 March 1941) is an English playwright of Irish-Lithuanian descent.

Early years

In the 1960s Mary O'Malley studied drama at the City Literary Institute, and 'Improvisation and Playmaking' with Dorothea Alexander. In the mid 1970s, while working in fringe theatre, she joined The Writers' Workshop run by Howard Brenton at the Royal Court Theatre. Early experimental work for theatre in the early seventies included A 'Nevolent Society, a lunchtime production at the Open Space Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, Superscum and Oh if Ever a Man Suffered, lunchtime productions at the Soho Theatre, the latter play transferring to Hampstead Theatre for a short run as a late night production. Plays for television in the early to mid seventies included two short plays by writers new to television, Percy and Kenneth and Shall I See You Now for the BBC in Birmingham, produced by Tara Prem.

Prime years

In 1975 The Royal Court commissioned Mary O'Malley to write a play which turned out to be Once a Catholic. The play, directed by Mike Ockrent, opened at the Royal Court in 1977 and after a successful run transferred to Wyndham's Theatre where it ran for over two years. In 1977 the play won awards from The Evening Standard and Plays & Players and in 1978 Mary O'Malley was the first winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for women playwrights.

Once a Catholic has been a success, critically and commercially, for many regional theatres in Britain, at the Lyric Theatre (Belfast) and on tour several times for Bill Kenwright Productions^{[citation needed]}. In 1979 a production directed by Mike Ockrent was taken on a short tour of theatres in the USA before opening at the Helen Hayes Theatre in New York, where it closed very quickly after only six performances. In 1987 the play was produced in Los Angeles at The Celtic Arts Centre (An Claidheamh Soluis) of Southern California, North Hollywood from which the author received the Hollywood Dramalogue Critics Award for outstanding achievement in theatre". Internationally there have also been productions in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Antwerp and Belgium, and in Opole in Poland at the Jan Kochanowski Theatre (1991).

In 1977 Mary O'Malley wrote Oy Vay Maria for BBC television, directed by Richard Loncraine. It won a Pye Television Award, was televised in Israel and produced as a stage play in 1981 at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, St John's Wood.

In 1978 Mary O'Malley wrote Look Out...Here Comes Trouble for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Donmar Warehouse, directed by John Caird. Set in a psychiatric hospital, it is an ensemble piece for fourteen actors, one of whom was Maxine Audley who received a London Critics Award for her performance as Olive, a clairvoyant.

Other work includes: On the Shelf for television (1984) produced by Margaret Matheson; Talk of the Devil, Watford Playhouse (1986) directed by Bill Alexander; Oy Vay Maria, Oldham Coliseum (1996).

Identity

Mary O'Malley retired from the business of writing for several years but is now writing again and in future would prefer to be known as Marie Josephine, or Marie J, in order to avoid confusion with other Mary O'Malleys.^{[citation needed]}

Stage Plays

• Superscum, Soho Poly, London, 1972
• A 'Nevolent Society, Open Space, London, 1974
• Oh If Ever a Man Suffered, Soho Poly, London, 1975
• Once a Catholic, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1977
• Look Out... Here Comes Trouble, Royal Shakespeare Company at the Donmar Warehouse, London, 1978^[1]
• Talk of the Devil, Watford Playhouse, Hertfordshire, 1986
• Oy Vay Maria, Oldham Coliseum, 1996 ^[2]

Television Plays

• Percy and Kenneth, BBC Birmingham
• Shall I See You Now, BBC Birmingham
• Oy Vay Maria (1977)^[3]
• On the Shelf (1984)

Awards

• Evening Standard Award - Most Promising Playwright 1977 for Once a Catholic.^[4]
• Plays & Players Award (1977) Once a Catholic.
• Pye Television Award (1977) Oy Vay Maria.
• Susan Smith Blackburn Prize - Mary O'Malley 1978 winner for Once a Catholic.^[5]
• Susan Smith Blackburn Prize - Mary O'Malley 1986 runner up for Talk of the Devil.
• Hollywood Dramalogue Critics Award - for outstanding achievement in theatre (1987) for Once a Catholic.

References

1. ^ Look Out ... Here Comes Trouble. Amber Lane Press Ltd. June 1979. ISBN 9780906399040. 
2. ^ http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsO/o-malley-mary.html
3. ^ "Play for Today" (1970) BBC
4. ^ "Evening Standard Theatre Awards 1955-1979"
5. ^ "Susan Smith Blackburn Prize"

External links

• Mary O'Malley, doollee
• "Once a Catholic", What's on Stage, February 20, 2009
• "The Stage Review", BBC, Paul Gubbins, 2003