The birth of John B Keane

Ireland has produced many great playwrights, some of whom have won Nobel Prizes for their art. However, it is probably safe to say that the plays of a humble publican from Listowel have been seen by more of the ordinary people of Ireland that all the others combined.

The plays of John B Keane are of, and about, the ordinary people of rural Ireland and when his work was turned down by the National Theatre it was those ordinary people and the amateur drama movement which created a theatrical momentum which proved unstoppable.
John B was born in Listowel and after secondary school he worked for a short while in a chemist’s shop before, like many thousand others at that time, emigrating to England, where he worked in Northampton. Unlike others, however, he returned and in 1955 married Mary O’Connor. They purchased a public house in William Street, Listowel, where Keane started to write in a small upstairs room. His first play, Sive, was rejected by the Abbey Theatre and for many years his plays were rarely, if ever, seen on the stage of the national theatre.
His local Listowel Players took on the play and it was first produced in February 1959 in Walsh’s Ballroom, Listowel. It was a tremendous success, although some were shocked by the theme and some of the language. They ‘went on the circuit’ and competed at the amateur drama festivals. First off was Scariff, where they won, and were praised by adjudicator Micheál Ó hAodha.
Their next festival in Charleville brought the players down to earth with a bang. The adjudicator was Tomás Mac Anna – one of those who had rejected the play at the Abbey – who said that Keane had re-written the play as the Abbey had suggested.
Keane denied this but the controversy added to the play’s appeal. In spite of that, they qualified and swept the boards at the all-Ireland finals at Athlone. As was customary, the Athlone winners were invited to present their play in the Abbey. However, after the fire in the Abbey, the show was staged at the old Queen’s Theatre. Sive eventually made it to the Abbey stage in 1985.
The play was taken up by a professional theatre – The Southern Theatre Group – which had been formed that year in Cork by, among others James N Healy. Southern Theatre premiered most of Keane’s plays and Healy created most of his great male characters.
He was the first Hiker, Danger Mullaly and Pats Bo Bwee. Keane also created some notable female characters particularly Moll and Big Maggie, which is said to have been written for the late Anna Manahan.
Keane went on to write many more plays, which were produced not only here but also in the US and the UK. One of his greatest works, The Field, was later filmed, starring Richard Harris. In his later years Keane was elected a member of Aosdana and awarded degrees by Trinity and Marymount College in Manhattan.
John Brendan Keane the man who reflected Irish life of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, was born in Listowel on July 21, 1928 – 82 years ago this week.