Keane, John Brendan

▪ 2003

      Irish playwright and novelist (b. July 21, 1928, Listowel, County Kerry, Ire.—d. May 30, 2002, Listowel), eschewed as subject matter both the popular romantic mythology of Ireland and the vibrant modern nation to explore the darker complexities of rural Ireland in a series of intense, though sometimes humourous, plays, novels, short stories, and poems. Keane owned and operated a pub in Listowel, where he wrote plays for the local theatre company and sponsored, from 1971, the annual Listowel Writers' Week. His first play, Sive (1959), was initially rejected by the Abbey Theatre in Dublin but went on to win the amateur All-Ireland Drama Festival. Later plays included The Field (1965), which was released in a bowdlerized film version in 1990, and Big Maggie (1969), which was produced on Broadway in 1982. In 1998 Keane was honoured with a medal from the Abbey for his contribution to Irish theatre.

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