In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1923, W.B. Yeats described the Irish actress Molly Allgood, who died 50 years ago today, as "all simplicity". But there was nothing simple about the life of the woman whose stage name was Máire O'Neill, a life that involved much success but also much suffering and bleak tragedy.
The suffering began very early because Molly, who was born in Dublin, lost her father at an early age. After his death, she and her older sister Sara were sent to an orphanage, after which Molly was apprenticed to a dressmaker. Maud Gonne had set up Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Erin) in 1900 to educate Irish women about Irish history, the Irish language, Irish music, drama and elocution, and both Sara and Molly joined the drama classes. Their coach was the great Willie Fay and he enrolled them in the National Theatre Society, which became better known as the Abbey Theatre.
Relationship with Synge
In 1905, Molly met John Millington Synge for the first time and he fell in love with her. One person who was surprised and even dismayed at this was Lily Yeats (a sister of W.B.), who was herself deeply attached to Synge. She couldn't understand the relationship. Molly was only 18 at the time (Synge was almost twice her age) and she was relatively uneducated and inexperienced in every way. She came from a very different background from Synge and was of a different religion. He had begun life as a Protestant and become an atheist, while Molly was raised a Catholic and remained one.
A biographer of the Yeats sisters tells us that Lily wondered what Synge saw in Molly apart from good looks and high spirits, but either characteristic would probably have been enough.
Synge had been living with his mother but he now rented rooms of his own so he could see more of Molly. She inspired the love talk in his most richly realised character, Christy Mahon of The Playboy of the Western World. He wrote the part of Pegeen Mike in that play with her in mind and she played the role in the first performance in January 1907. The audience broke up in disorder at that first performance and Synge wrote to Molly next morning: "Now we'll be talked about. We're an event in the history of the Irish stage." How right he was.
The play was taken to England that summer and the performances at Oxford and London were a personal triumph for Molly. Synge spent July in Wicklow and Molly and Sara came to spend a fortnight at a cottage near his. They rambled happily together among the Wicklow hills. It was to be a brief respite of joy for the playwright.
Hodgkins's Disease
When he was only 26, Synge had suffered the first signs of lymphatic sarcoma, or Hodgkin's Disease. In September 1907, he had surgery for the removal of troublesome neck glands. Although he still discussed marriage plans with Molly, his periods of health and good spirits were now sporadic. His family no longer opposed the marriage but it had to be postponed when he entered hospital again in April 1908.
He was found to have an inoperable tumour. The household he was preparing for Molly had to be broken up and he returned to live with his mother. He wrote to Molly: "It is sad to see all our little furniture stored away in these rooms. It is a sad, queer time for us all, dear Heart. I sometimes feel inclined to sit down and wail." He died in March 1909.
He hadn't finished his play Deirdre of the Sorrows but Yeats, Lady Gregory and Molly prepared it for the stage and it was presented in the Abbey in January 1910 under Molly's direction. She also played the leading role. Deirdre's caoineadh over the slain Naisi has been described as "almost intolerable in its purity and tragic intensity". It was Molly's last farewell to her fiancé.
Molly remained with the Abbey until 1911, returning occasionally until 1917, but more and more she was playing parts in England. In June 1911 she married George Herbert Mair, drama critic of the Manchester Guardian. They had two children, Pegeen and John. She continued her career with great success, playing with the Liverpool Repertory Company, with Beerbohm Tree in Shakespeare in London and also with Belfast-born J.B. Fagan's company there.
But misfortune never seemed to be far away. In January 1926 her husband died, leaving her with two young children. Six months later she married Arthur Sinclair, an Abbey actor. They appeared together many times in the plays of Sean O'Casey (which also featured her sister, Sara), both at home and on successful American tours. In 1942, her son was killed in an air accident.
Money problems
Her later years saw troubles pile in upon her. She was divorced from Sinclair and had frequent money problems. Alcoholism added to her difficulties. Indeed, there is a curious parallel between the misfortunes of the Allgood sisters' last years. Sara settled in Hollywood in the 1940s but her move there was not a success. She could get only small parts for "quaint old Irishwomen" and it was a lonely, impoverished struggle for her. She died two years before her sister.
In his Irish Reminiscences (1947), Maurice Headlam pays Molly Allgood the tribute of being "all but a really great actress". He refers to her golden voice as "not a stage voice but full and pure and true, especially in the lower notes". She was certainly one of Ireland's outstanding actresses of the 20th century.