World of Drama Mourns Death of Pauline Flanagan

The death occurred at the weekend in the United States of well-known Sligo-born actress Pauline Flanagan, a star of both stage and screen. Seventy eight years old Mrs. Flanagan, who came from High Street where her parents, P.J. and Elizabeth, ran a thriving wholesale and retail business. The following is an extract from an interview Mrs. Flanagan gave to Jim Gray in the Sligo Champion in July 2002 when she was playing Mammo in Tom Murphy’s “Bailegangaire” at Dublin’s Peacock Theatre:

At an age when most people would be quite content to luxuriate in the haven of retirement, Sligo born actress Pauline Flanagan simply can’t get enough of treading the boards. “I’m sixty years acting now. I’ve loved and continue to love every minute of it. There isn’t a reason in the world to stop. I’ll go on doing it as long as I’m able and as long as there’s a part to play”, she cheerfully declares. The extraordinary Sligo-born New Jersey based actress is currently playing Mammo in Tom Murphy’s “Bailegangaire” at Dublin’s Peacock Theatre, a role which not only enhances a packed and glowing CV, but, equally important from her point of view , affords her the opportunity to visit her native land.

Although based in the US for most of her adult life, Pauline remains as Sligo as the Garavogue. Both her parents, P.J. and Elizabeth, were mayors of the town, as was her uncle Tom. The family ran a thriving wholesale and retail business in High Street. The roots are strong and durable. “I still love Sligo with all my heart”, she says, easily falling into fond reminiscence about growing up here during the war years. “It was a great place to grow up. The world was at war, and yet as children in Sligo, we were as free as the birds. Walking down High Street now brings back many memories, and although the town has changed so much from when I knew it, it retains all its own charms”, she says.

While being nostalgic about the past, she offers a rich endorsement of the cultural changes which characterise present-day Sligo. “My niece, Mona Rooney, who lives at New Circular Road, brought me to the Blue Raincoat Theatre’s performance space where Dennys used to be, and to the new Model and Niland on the Mall, and they just took my breath away. The way the whole artistic movement has taken off here is truly mind-boggling, and it’s wonderful to see”, she enthuses. While facilities and opportunities for artistic expression were not as plentiful in the Sligo of her youth, there was always a strong tradition of cultural activity, manifested most forcibly in the local Feiseanna.

“As children, we were always in plays and drama competitions in Feis Shligigh and Feis Ceoil, and I remember in particular a teacher at the Ursuline Convent, Jill Noone, who instilled in us a love of words and plays”, she recalls. Armed with that love of drama, it was only natural that she would graduate to the Unknown Players, then the region’s foremost amateur drama group, and once bitten by the bug, there was no turning back. She entered the professional ranks through a somewhat unusual route, placing an advertisement in “The Irish Press” along with her friend, Aileen Harte. She can still vividly recall the wording: “Two young ladies, with exceptional amateur dramatic experience, wish to join exclusive repertory company for the summer season”. They were offered jobs by the Garryowen Players for the summer of 1949 in Bundoran’s Hamilton Hall in “Peg O’ My Heart”, and a career was born.

More than forty years on, she has literally played everything, but she’s still as excited about her profession as she was the first day she stepped onto the Sligo Town Hall stage in Feis Shligigh. “At my age, you just wouldn’t do it if you didn’t love it. I still get the same kick out of it as I always did”, she explains. Pauline values the opportunity she’s had in the past ten years to return to perform in Dublin on an annual basis. Not only has it given her the chance to retrace her Sligo roots, but on a professional level, her recent work has brought her a plethora of accolades and awards. She won the Samuel Beckett Award and the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in “Dolly West’s Kitchen” by Frank Mc Guinness, while she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her part in Marina Carr’s “By the Bog of Cats”.

She regards her role as Mammo in “Bailegangaire” as the most challenging of her career. “It is undoubtedly the most demanding role I’ve ever done”, she maintains. “I have to hold the audience with the narrative line. The play is so brilliantly written that I have to get every word he wrote, and the life behind those words, and engage the audience so that they listen to them. It’s a difficult challenge, but so far the audience reaction has been excellent, and it’s going very well. I’m thoroughly enjoying it”.

Unfortunately, Pauline will be unable to fit in another visit to Sligo before returning next month to New Jersey, where she lives with her husband of 44 years, George Vogel. They have two adult daughters and a grandchild. But she definitely plans to come back to the place she still calls home. “Hopefully, there will be other opportunities to play in Dublin, and once that happens, you can be sure Sligo will be on my itinerary. I’ve always loved going back home”, she says.

from The Sligo Champion, July 2nd, 2003