By Louise Harrison
WHEN award-winning actress Mary O’Sullivan appears in the College Players production of ‘The Rise and Fall of Little Voice’ at the Lime Tree Theatre next week it will represent something of a theatrical homecoming for the affable Limerick woman.
Directed by Michael Finneran and starring Jean McGlynn as Little Voice, the production which runs from next Tuesday November 11 to Saturday 15, has a talented line up of actors including Dave Griffin, Brian McNamara, Nigel Dugdale and Rebecca Murphy.
Mary, who has just completed her Masters in Education and the Arts at Mary Immaculate College, also studied at the Gaiety School of Acting. She worked as a professional actor in London for four years and has worked with many theatre companies in Ireland, winning Best Supporting Actress in 2010 at the All Ireland Drama Festival.
“Four years in London was an amazing experience. I love theatre and just being there experiencing the reality of professional acting was fantastic. It was great, a rollercoaster ride. And then, the people you get to work with, I mean like Jean McGlynn, Mike Finneran, is brilliant, he is the kind of director that will take ideas on board and he will work with that,” she said.
Mary plays Little Voice’s mother, who is a bitter character, although she says the College Players’ production is full of comedy.
Having toured with the Mirage Theatre company playing the title role in ‘Educating Rita’, she has always enjoyed playing comedy roles, but the most rewarding part she played was as the victim of domestic abuse in aid of Adapt House.
“Just before we started production, I met some of the women at Adapt House. Meeting them and doing the part was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. It was hard to do. I asked one lady, what was the abuse like? And she said the physical abuse was a release from the mental abuse.
“That comment was in my head while we were shooting. That was in 1993, and I’ll never forget it,” she said.
Mary has also worked with Island Theatre, Shoestring Theatre, Mirage Theatre, and performed at the Riverside Studios and at Edinburgh and London Fringe festivals.
Her history with the College Players goes back many years, when she acted in ‘Lend Me A Tenor’. Since then, she has been involved in many of their productions, including the prize winning play ‘Metamorphosis’, which won the All Ireland Drama Finals and then went on to represent Ireland at the International Drama Festival in Japan in 1995.
Mary was musical director when they represented Ireland at the International Drama Festival in Monaco.
“My favourite part of the whole process of production is dissecting the script. I love getting into the skin of the character, working with other actors. Then my favourite day is the dress rehearsal, because if you have done your work and you have prepared, it’s like having an ice-cream cone, that’s a buzz,” said Mary.
Currently teaching piano at the Redemptorist Centre of Music, Mary has also worked on radio and television and composed music for an RTÉ documentary.
“I’ve been very lucky, because I’ve gone from studying the Masters, off on holiday in New York and straight into this. And working with the College Players, you couldn’t have a nicer gang,” said Mary.
