Donagh MacDonagh (22 November 1912 – 1 January 1968) was an Irish writer, judge, presenter, broadcaster, and playwright.
Early life and education
MacDonagh was born in Dublin on St Cecilia's Day in 1912. He was still a young child when his father Thomas MacDonagh, an Irish nationalist and poet, was executed in 1916.[1] His mother, Muriel Gifford, died of a supposed drowning, a year afterwards while swimming at Skerries to Shenick Island, County Dublin on 9 July 1917.[2] The two children were then taken care of by their maternal aunts, in particular Catherine Wilson.
His parents' families then engaged in a series of custody lawsuits, as the MacDonaghs were Roman Catholic and the Giffords were Protestant; in the climate of Ne Temere, the MacDonaghs were successful.
He and his sister Barbara (who later married actor Liam Redmond) lived briefly with their paternal aunt Eleanor Bingham, County Clare before being put into the custody of strangers until their late teens when they were taken in by Jack MacDonagh. He wrote a radio play, The Happy Day, about his time with Eleanor Bingham[3]
In 1934 he and Niall Sheridan self-published Twenty Poems with each contributing ten poems. He published three volumes of poetry: "Veterans and Other Poems" (1941), The Hungry Grass (1947) and A Warning to Conquerors (1968). He also edited the Oxford Book of Irish Verse (1958) with Lennox Robinson.
He also wrote poetic dramas and ballad operas. One play, Happy As Larry, was translated into a number of languages. He had three other plays produced: God's Gentry (1951, a ballad opera about the tinkers), Lady Spider (1959, about Deirdre of the Sorrows and the Three sons of Ussna) and Step in the Hollow a piece of situation comedy nonsense.
He also wrote short stories; staged the first Irish production of ‘’Murder in the Cathedral’’ with Liam Redmond, later his brother-in-law; and was a popular broadcaster on Radio Éireann.
Personal life and death
He was married twice, to Maura Smyth and, following her death, to her sister, Nuala Smyth. He had four children, Iseult and Breifne by Maura, and Niall and Barbara by Nuala.
1934 - with Niall Sheridan. Twenty Poems. Self-published.
1941 - Veterans and Other Poems, Cuala Press, Dublin 1941
1947 - The Hungry Grass, Faber & Faber, London 1947
1954 - The Ballad of Jane Shore, Dolmen Press, Dublin 1954
1958 - The Oxford Book of Irish Verse: XVIIth Century - XXth Century, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1958 (editor with Lennox Robinson)
1969 - A Warning to Conquerors, Dolmen Press, Dublin 1969 (preface by Niall Sheridan)
Plays
1946 - Happy As Larry, Maurice Fridberg, London 1946 A ballad opera. The most successful play in London in post-war years though produced unsuccessfully in New York in an elaborate production by Burgess Meredith. Has been translated into a number of languages
1951 - God's Gentry A ballad opera. Frequently acted but unpublished play about travellers (Belfast Arts Theatre, August 1951)
1957 - Step in the Hollow, Penguin 1959 (A piece of situation comedy nonsense (Gaiety Theatre, 11 Mar. 1957))
1967 - Reprint of Happy as Larry by the Dolmen Press including a scene written after the initial publication.
(unpublished) - Lady Spider. About Deirdre of the Sorrows and the three sons of Uisnech
Secondary literature
Robert Hogan - After the Irish Renaissance -, 1986
Desmond Ernest Stewart Maxwell – Modern Irish Drama 1891-1980 -, Cambridge 1985
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References
^Vivien Igoe (1994). "Donagh MacDonagh". A Literary Guide to Dublin: Writers in Dublin, Literary Associations and Anecdotes. Methuen Publishing. p. 161. ISBN9780413674203.