Publisher's Synopsis
"Perhaps the greatest actor-manager of his time," wrote the distinguished playwright Harold Pinter, whose first job in the theatre was with Anew McMaster's classical theatre company and whose little book, called Mac, Pinter published as a tribute to him after his death. For over thirty years 'Mac', as he was known, toured the Irish provinces giving the country people their first sight of Shakespeare. Anew McMaster died over fifty years ago, and though he figures largely in biographies by Micheal O'hAodha, Simon Callow and his brother-in-law, Micheal Mac Liammoir, he has not had, as yet, a full book devoted to his life and work. Mary-Rose McMaster, daughter of Anew McMaster, was born in Dublin and spent most of her life in the theatre. When she was twelve, she became a member of her parents' classical theatre company, at first playing small parts and graduating eventually to Desdemona, Juliet, and Ophelia. She married American actor, Jack Aranson, and moved to San Francisco. Together they formed their own production company which lasted until their divorce in the seventies. Mary-Rose turned to directing, mounting a production of Shaw's St Joan for U.C. Berkley's Festival of Light and directed two plays for the San Francisco-based Irish Theatre Company. Mary-Rose last appeared in Micheal Mac Liammoir's solo presentation of I Must Be Talking to My Friends. Retired from the stage for many years, Mary-Rose lives a quiet life, reading, gardening, going to the opera, and being a loving grandmother and great-grandmother. [Subject: Biography, Irish Studies, Theatre Studies]
