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Man and Showman

By: Donal Fallon

Dubliner Brendan Behan was born one hundred years ago. Despite his demons, he became one of the twentieth century’s great working-class writers.

Brendan Behan (1923 - 1964), Irish playwright and author. (Photo by Daniel Farson/Getty Images)

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Brendan Behan died at just 41 years of age after he collapsed in a Dublin public house in March 1964. To Joan Littlewood, the pioneering figure of working-class theatre in post-war Britain, it was nothing short of a tragic waste of talent: ‘I was so angry with Brendan for dying that I felt like kicking […]

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Brendan Behan died at just 41 years of age after he collapsed in a Dublin public house in March 1964. To Joan Littlewood, the pioneering figure of working-class theatre in post-war Britain, it was nothing short of a tragic waste of talent: ‘I was so angry with Brendan for dying that I felt like kicking […]

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Brendan Behan died at just 41 years of age after he collapsed in a Dublin public house in March 1964. To Joan Littlewood, the pioneering figure of working-class theatre in post-war Britain, it was nothing short of a tragic waste of talent: ‘I was so angry with Brendan for dying that I felt like kicking […]

Brendan Behan died at just 41 years of age after he collapsed in a Dublin public house in March 1964. To Joan Littlewood, the pioneering figure of working-class theatre in post-war Britain, it was nothing short of a tragic waste of talent: ‘I was so angry with Brendan for dying that I felt like kicking […]

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