Big Maggie is coming to Ballycommon

Puckane & Carrig Drama Group

It’s late on Sunday afternoon and a quietness seems to have descended over Ballycommon. Apart from the odd passing car and a few people strolling in the sunshine, there isn’t really anything happening in the small village on the outskirts of Nenagh. But looks can be deceiving.

Once you walk in the door of Ballycommon Hall, it is like entering a different universe. Inside, the cast and crew of Puckane & Carrig Drama Group have congregated for one of their final rehearsals ahead of this weekend’s production of John B. Keane’s arresting play 'Big Maggie'.

The place is dripping with emotion, tension and theatrical energy. There is no audience here and this is only a rehearsal, but the actors on stage are pouring everything into their performance, as if John B Keane himself was there demanding they do. It is absorbing, and it will open to the public this Friday, with further showings on Saturday and Sunday, followed by two more performances on April 10 and 11.

First published in 1969, 'Big Maggie' is a fiercely emotive, darkly humorous story of a domineering widow and her relationship with power. It explores a range of themes, and exposes the hardship of life in 1960s Ireland. Anyone who has ever witnessed 'Big Maggie', which is one of Keane’s signature works, will tell you that it is both heavy going and notoriously difficult to perform. Gerry Foley, a long established member of Puckane & Carrig Drama Group and a prominent member of the cast, agrees.

“We’ve done several plays, and this is definitely our most challenging. And that’s because it’s one of John B Keane’s classics,” he says. “But we’ve put huge effort into it. Everyone is after working very, very hard. This is a play that tells everything about women, how women were treated, how they were treated in marriage. There are some very funny scenes in it as well, but there are also some dramatic scenes that will, we think, capture the audience.”

He isn’t lying. Your correspondent witnessed one of those dramatic episodes last Sunday, and it was powerful.

Seasoned performer

The woman who plays Maggie, Reanne O’Dwyer, only made her acting debut in 2024 with the Nenagh Players, but she has all the characteristics of a seasoned performer. She delivers a stunning portrayal of the matriarch, and has a formidable presence on stage. The other ten members of the cast are equally impressive in their own right, and feed off Reanne’s emotion and energy. There is a cohesion amongst everyone on stage, but as Gerry emphasises, this production is as much about the people back-stage as it is those on it. They are fortunate to have “a great backroom team,” he says, adding that “none of this would have been possible without their help.”

The person pulling the strings of the operation, director Phil Quigley, is just as formidable and capable as Maggie herself but much, much softer. Phil has been immersed in drama for decades. She adores the art of performance, and extols the talent of the cast and indeed the quality of the actors that she has come across throughout her career.

“I’m a long time at it - I did my first play when I was seven,” she says. “It was in Borrisokane and a cousin of mine produced it, a man called Denis Doorley, and I just remember it so well. But since that, every chance I ever got to get involved in drama I’ve taken it.”

This is actually the third time she has been involved in a production of 'Big Maggie', but she says it never becomes monotonous or repetitive. The depth of John B Keane’s writing means that it can be interpreted differently by different sets of actors. That, Phil says, is what makes it such a popular production.

“I sort of know it off by heart now, Big Maggie, but each time you do it, because of the different actors, it just turns out differently. You get to love it more and more and more.”

She goes on to describe 'Big Maggie' as a “tough, tough play”, but credits the cast as “absolutely marvellous” in terms of bringing it to life. Naturally, there are a couple of nerves within the group given that both demand for tickets and expectations are so high. But they have nothing to fear. This is a quality production. Were he alive now, Keane would most certainly give it his blessing.