ENA MAY COLLECTION:
GUIDE AND INVENTORY
SPEC.CMS.106
(Compiled by Elva Griffith)
The Rare Books and Manuscripts Library
The Ohio State University Libraries
2002
Visit the
Irish Playography website: a comprehensive database of new Irish plays produced professionally since 1975.
INTRODUCTION
Ena May was born in Dublin in 1940. She is well known in Ireland as an actress, writer and
director. She trained under Deirdre O'Connell at the Stanislavski Studio at Focus Theatre in
Dublin and is a long established actress at the Focus. She has played the lead role in fourteen
productions there, including Night of the Iguana, Days in the Trees, and A Delicate Balance.
She has also played at Project, The Gate Theatre, and The Peacock. She has worked in TV and
radio and has toured extensively.
Plays Ena May has written include Out of the Beehive, She's Your Mother Too, You Know!,
Maria's Claim, and Love Lust and the Lack of It, an adaptation of Aristophanes' Lysistrata.
She's Your Mother Too, You Know! played at the 1986 Dublin Theatre Festival. She directed
productions of it and Out of the Beehive at Focus. She directed and co-wrote with Ruth Jacobs
That Fine Line. She also directed a highly acclaimed production of Waiting For Godot in Berlin.
In 1998 her book of short stories, A Close Shave With the Devil, was published by The Lilliput
Press. These are stories of Dublin in the late 1940s seen through the eyes of young Eily Doolin.
Ena May adapted stories from her book for the theatre and has performed them at Focus as well
as other venues in Ireland and Wales.
The OSU Libraries acquired from Ena May this collection of archival material for A Close Shave
With the Devil in 2001.
Elva Griffith
May 2002
ENA MAY COLLECTION -
CATALOGUE OF INVENTORY, OHIO STATE
UNIVERSITY
Detailed Listing/ Box and Folder Listing:
Box 1
Folder Number #1-38
-
Itchy Ryder and the Green Frog. 9 holograph leaves.
- Itchy Ryder and a Frog. Typescript with numerous, holograph revisions and 2 holograph pp.
6 leaves.
- Itchy Ryder and the Green Frog. Notes. 3 holograph leaves.
- Itchy Ryder and a Frog. Typescript. 8 leaves.
- Itchy Ryder and the Green Frog. Typescript with few, holograph revisions. 10 leaves.
- Itchy Ryder and a Frog. Typescript with holograph revisions. 14 leaves.
- Itchy Ryder and the Green Frog. Typescript. 11 leaves.
- Itchy Ryder and the Green Frog. Typescript with holograph revisions. 10 leaves.
- The Red Sandals. Typescript. 16 leaves.
- The Red Sandals. Typescript with few, holograph revisions. 14 leaves.
- The Red Sandals. Typescript. 13 leaves.
- The Red Sandals. Typescript. 13 leaves.
- The Red Sandals. Typescript with holograph revisions. 13 leaves.
- Sunday Visiting. Typescript with numerous, holograph revisions. 23 leaves.
- Sunday Visiting. Typescript with holograph revisions. 23 leaves. Complete draft except
for final page(s).
- A Sunday Visit. Typescript. 28 leaves.
- A Sunday Visit. Typescript with numerous, holograph revisions. 29 leaves.
- A Sunday Visit. Typescript. 24 leaves.
- A Sunday Visit. Typescript. 24 leaves.
- A Sunday Visit. Typescript. 21 leaves.
- A Sunday Visit. Typescript. 21 leaves.
- A Sunday Visit. Typescript with few, holograph revisions. 21 leaves.
- Another Jewish Plot in 1948. Typescript. 11 leaves.
- Another Jewish Plot in 1948. Typescript with numerous, holograph revisions. 22 leaves.
- Another Jewish Plot. Typescript. 18 leaves.
- Another Jewish Plot. Typescript. 10 leaves.
- Another Jewish Plot. Typescript. 15 leaves.
- Another Jewish Plot. (In: IMAGE, October 1988)
- The Boy Who Thought He Was a Train. Typescript. 8 leaves.
- The Boy Who Thought He Was a Train. Typescript. 14 leaves.
- The Boy Who Thought He Was a Train. Typescript. 17 leaves.
- The Boy Who Thought He Was a Train. Typescript. 15 leaves.
- The Boy Who Thought He Was a Train. Typescript with numerous, holograph revisions.
17 leaves.
- The Boy Who Thought He Was a Train. Typescript with numerous, holograph revisions.
14 leaves.
- The Black Widow. Typescript. 9 leaves.
- The All-Ireland Beauty. Typescript. First version. 12 leaves.
- The All-Ireland Beauty. Typescript. 12 leaves.
- The Real All-Ireland Beauty. Typescript. 10 leaves.
Box 2
Folder Number #39-55
-
The Misfit. Draft of Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Typescript with numerous, holograph
revisions and a drawing. 16 leaves.
- Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Typescript with holograph revisions. 15 leaves.
- Making a Man of Georgie. Draft of Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Typescript with
numerous, holograph revisions. 20 leaves.
- Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Incomplete draft. Typescript with numerous, holograph
revisions. 7 leaves.
- Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Incomplete draft. Typescript with few, holograph
revisions. 16 leaves.
- Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Incomplete draft. Typescript with numerous, holograph
revisions. 18 leaves.
- Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Draft fragments. Typescript with numerous, holograph
revisions. 16 leaves.
- Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Typescript. 25 leaves.
- Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Typescript with reader's marks and comments. 24 leaves.
- Belleek, Philistines and Misfits. Typescript. 18 leaves.
- A Close Shave With the Devil. Typescript with numerous, holograph revisions. 19 leaves.
- Typescript fragments and holograph notes. 4 leaves.
- A Close Shave With the Devil. Book reviews and publicity material. 12 items.
- Notices of Ena May's performances at the Dublin Writers' Museum and Dundrum Library.
2 items.
- A Close Shave With the Devil. Reviews and publicity for Ena May's performance at the
Focus Theatre. 8 items.
- A Close Shave With the Devil. Poster for Ena May's performance at the Focus Theatre.
(The girl in foreground of photograph is Ena.) Verso of poster has information about the Focus
Theatre and biographical information on Ena May, Hazel Dunphy, and Deirdre O'Connell.
- Notebook