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MARY O'MALLEY

  (1941 - )
Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Alan Brodie Representation Ltd  

Mary Josephine O'Malley (there are other Mary O'Malleys in the Theatre, in Ireland) was born in 19 March 1941 in Bushey, Herts of an Irish father and English-Lithuanian mother. She grew up in Harrow, Middlesex with 2 younger brothers, one of whom became a professional musician. From the age of 3, Mary took tap and ballet classes and from 8 she had piano lessons. She played at music festivals, appeared in shows with other children and adult semi-professional music hall artistes. She wrote, directed, choreographed and costumed shows in which she appeared with other children in the back garden for paying audiences. Mary was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Harlesden. She played truant frequently to go and see Hollywood musicals or read unsuitable books (eg, Emile Zola) in the public library. At 16 she left school and worked in dull offices, in a gin factory, was a nanny, and worked at the Evening Standard in the classified advertising department while studying Drama and improvisation at the City Lit. As well as this, she joined an improvisation group at St John's Wood run by Drama teacher Dorothea Alexander, with whom she also studied privately and for several years she appeared in improvised plays. With Dorothea and another student, she took part in several lectures and demonstrations of improvisation techniques. In 1965 Mary married. She had 2 sons. She chAnneled her creative urges into baking and made wedding cakes and won a prize for baking bread. She also studied opera and singing. In 1971 she divorced and returned to Drama classes. She sang in a wine bar and wrote some plays for fringe Theatre, eg: SUPERSCUM in 1971 for the Soho Poly Theatre, A BENEVOLENT SOCIETY in 1972 as a lunchtime production at a Theatre on Tottenham Court Road and a Sunday evening at the Theatre Upstairs; in 1973 she wrote IF EVER A MAN SUFFERED for the Soho Poly and Hampstead Theatres  and in which she also appeared. Mary read plays for the Royal Court and attended a workshop for playwrights run by Howard Brenton. In 1976 she wrote ONCE A CATHOLIC which was produced by the Royal Court and transferred to Wyndham's and has since enjoyed both national and international fame. Following this, Mary was resident writer at the Royal Court for one year. She won several other awards for ONCE A CATHOLIC including the Evening Standard and Plays & Players Most Promising Playwright Awards; the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and, several years later, the Hollywood Critics' Award for a small scale production  although on Broadway the play flopped. In 1978 she wrote LOOK OUT HERE COMES TROUBLE for the RSC at the Warehouse. One member of the cast, Maxine Audley, won a Critics' Circle Award for her performance as Olive, a mental patient and clairvoyant. During the seventies Mary wrote the following television plays: SAVE IT FOR the MINISTER (co-written with Caryl Churchill and Cherry Potter); PERCY AND KENNETH; SHALL I SEE YOU NOW; OY VAY MARIA (which won a Pye Television Award. the last play was also presented as a stage version at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, and was also produced at the Oldham Coliseum in 1998 under the direction of Will Clarke. ONCE A CATHOLIC was adapted (by Mary) for radio and TV. It has not yet been screened.

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below is a list of Mary O'Malley's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

        Look Out . . .Here Comes Trouble         My Silver Bird: our flags will bloom like flowers         Nevolent Society, A         Oh If Ever A Man Suffered         Once A Catholic         Oy Vay Maria         Superscum         Talk Of the Devil