Theatre being by its nature a transitory art, there is often little left to recall a production once the run of performances has ended. Nor does very much material frequently survive to recall the talents of the various parties involved in staging a play. That was certainly the case in this country until the establishment 20 years ago of the Irish Theatre Archive, which sought to preserve at least some recollection of historic drama.
Now a division of the Dublin City Archives, the ITA's collection recently received a substantial addition - a large volume of material relating to M∅cheβl Mac L∅amm≤ir, who died in 1978. These items were donated by Robbie Turner, whose mother Patricia acted for years as personal assistant to Mac L∅amm≤ir. The documentation is of interest because so few items associated with the actor/writer and his partner Hilton Edwards remain in Ireland. In the late 1960s, they sold their own collection of memorabilia, much of it dealing with the Gate Theatre, which they had founded, to the library of Northwestern University in Illinois for a figure believed to be in the region of $30,000.
Naturally enough, the American holdings were of great importance to author Christopher Fitz-Simon when he wrote his "double biography" of Mac L∅amm≤ir and Edwards, The Boys, published in 1994. By comparison, anything remaining on this side of the Atlantic tends to be relatively small-scale and held in private collections, making the Turner acquisition particularly significant. Fitz-Simon, who has studied the material, says it is "very interesting; not comprehensive, obviously, but then it was never meant to be. Neither Mac L∅amm≤ir nor Edwards were thinking about archives."
Selected items from the Turner collection are currently on display in the Dublin Civic Museum, along with a number of items owned by George McFall, a stage manager for the Gate when it toured to Malta and Egypt in 1950. Archivist Mary Clark, who is responsible for the show, explains that she chose many of the pieces for their visual appeal, which is why there are more posters, watercolour stage designs and photographs featured than letters, even though the collection includes an abundant number of these.
But some of the written items to be seen are fascinating, such as a typed manuscript in which Mac L∅amm≤ir recalls how he first discovered the work of Oscar Wilde while working as a child actor (aged 121/2 years) in Edinburgh, where he was given a copy of The Happy Prince. "A magic casement had been opened for me," he wrote, and "I decided, defying my father's warning, that whatever Wilde had done he was a supreme magician". Mac L∅amm≤ir later adds that "the influence of Yeats, who changed the pattern of my life much more, was not to visit me for another two years".
Hilton Edwards and M∅cheβl Mac L∅amm≤ir, both of whom had an English upbringing, first worked together in Ireland while touring with Anew McMaster's company in 1927. The following year they established the Dublin Gate Theatre Studio. Among the earliest of the Turner documents is a programme for that fledgling company's production of Diarmuid and Grβinne, written by Mac L∅amm≤ir himself. The piece was originally in Irish, a language first learnt in his youth from the Gaelic League in London and forever loved best, although he was able to speak six others fluently.
Also on view at the civic museum are documents concerning the play which did much to establish the Gate's early reputation, Denis Johnston's The Old Lady Says No!, staged in 1929. That reputation soon became so strong that the company's founders were encouraged to begin touring overseas. In 1936 they went to Egypt for the first time and were back there 20 years later, as seen in a poster for the Gate's run at Cairo's Opera House. Among the actors taking part in the plays during this visit are several still working today, such as Maureen Toal, Anna Manahan and Milo O'Shea. In fact, Edwards and Mac L∅amm≤ir not only developed their own talents while working at the Gate but also nurtured those of a great many others, including James Mason and Orson Welles, both of whose careers essentially began at the Dublin theatre.
There is also abundant evidence here of Mac L∅amm≤ir's polymathic talents in the theatre, since he was not only a highly skilled actor but also a playwright and designer. During the Dublin Theatre Festival of September 1960, he first presented a part written for himself which would thereafter become his best-known performance - his one-man tribute to Wilde, The Importance of Being Oscar. There is a poster here advising of the play's world premiΦre, as well as another announcing its triumphant return to the Dublin stage a year later. With regard to Mac L∅amm≤ir's ability as a designer of sets and costumes alike, the largest group in this category is a collection of drawings lent by George McFall and produced for a 1960 production of The Drunkard or The Fallen Saved! Mac L∅amm≤ir seems to have been an irrepressible sketcher, because another item on show is his prompt-copy from the Orson Welles film of Othello, in which he has been unable to resist doodling.
As always in such exhibitions, items such as this last, offering an insight into the individual's personality, are especially to be treasured. Who, for example, would have known that one of the meals often served to guests at the Edwards/Mac L∅amm≤ir home in Harcourt Terrace was tongue casserole? A hand-written note in one display case offers all interested parties a recipe for the dish.
The M∅cheβl Mac L∅amm≤ir Archive is on exhibition at the Dublin Civic Museum, 58 South William Street until Monday, October 8th. For further information, tel: 01-6775877