Gregan McMahon,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(2 March 1874 – 30 August 1941)Allan Ashbolt,
McMahon, Gregan (1874–1941)
, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 336–337. Retrieved 2 October 2009 was an Australian actor and theatrical director and producer.

Early life

McMahon was born in Sydney, elder son of John Terence McMahon, a clerk, and his wife Elizabeth, ''née'' Gregan. Both parents were emigrants from Ireland. McMahon was educated at Sydney Grammar School and

Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Jesuit tradition, located in Riverview, a small suburb located on the Lane Cove River on the ...

. McMahon played in the Riverview football team, and took first-class honours in classics at his matriculation examination. McMahon graduated with a BA at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

in 1896 and during his course, established a reputation as an amateur actor – a critic on one occasion spoke of his performance being so artistic that he seemed like a professional in a company of amateurs.

Career

After university, McMahon was articled to a firm of solicitors at Sydney, and remained there for some years. On 4 October 1899 McMahon married Mary Kate, daughter of Thomas Hungerford. In May 1900 he was invited by Robert Brough to join his comedy company. His first professional appearance was as the waiter in ''The Liars'' at

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

in the beginning of June, and during the next 12 months he toured India and China playing a variety of small parts. Returning to Australia McMahon played with the William Hawtrey and Brough companies, and, by 1902 he was more important roles, including that of "Horace Parker", in '' A Message from Mars''. McMahon's establishment of the Melbourne Repertory Theatre Company (of which he was artistic director from 1911–1918 and 1926–1928) as an artistically and financially successful company is seen by some as the first Australian theatre company.Eckersley, M. 1997. Soundings in the Dramaturgy of the Australian Theatre Director. University of Melbourne. Melbourne. p38. Seasons followed in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Australia, largely in companies under the J. C. Williamson's management. Early in 1911 McMahon, who had been playing in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, organised a repertory theatre movement. The first performances took place in June, the plays selected being St John Hankin's ''The Two Mr Wetherbys'', the second act of Sheridan's ''

The Critic ''The Critic'' was an American primetime adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as writers a ...

'', and Ibsen's ''

John Gabriel Borkman ''John Gabriel Borkman'' is a 1896 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was his penultimate work. Plot The Borkman family fortunes have been brought low by the imprisonment of John Gabriel who used his position as a bank manager to ...

''. Among the plays McMahon produced from 1911–1917 were '' Candida'', '' Getting Married'', ''

Major Barbara ''Major Barbara'' is a three-act English play by George Bernard Shaw, written and premiered in 1905 and first published in 1907. The story concerns an idealistic young woman, Barbara Undershaft, who is engaged in helping the poor as a Major in ...

'', '' The Doctor's Dilemma'', ''

Man and Superman ''Man and Superman'' is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to a call for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. ''Man and Superman'' opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London o ...

'', '' Fanny's First Play'', '' You Never Can Tell'', and '' Pygmalion'', all by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

; ''

Rosmersholm ''Rosmersholm'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in Danish—the common written language of Denmark and Norway at the time—and originally published in 1886 in Copenhagen by the Danish publisher Gyldendal. ''Rosmersholm'' ...

'' and '' An Enemy of the People'' by Henrik Ibsen; ''

The Voysey Inheritance ''The Voysey Inheritance'' is a play in five acts by the English dramatist Harley Granville-Barker. Written in 1903–1905, it was originally staged at the Royal Court Theatre in 1905 featuring Mabel Hackney, and revived at the same venue in 196 ...

'' and ''The Madras House'' by

Granville Barker Harley Granville-Barker (25 November 1877 – 31 August 1946) was an English actor, director, playwright, manager, critic, and theorist. After early success as an actor in the plays of George Bernard Shaw, he increasingly turned to directi ...

; ''The Pigeon'', ''Strife'' and ''The Fugitive'' by Galsworthy; ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises th ...

'' by Anton Chekhov; ''The Mate'' by

Arthur Schnitzler Arthur Schnitzler (15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist. Biography Arthur Schnitzler was born at Praterstrasse 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire (as of 1867, part of the dual monarchy ...

, and many other plays by leading dramatists of the period, including several by Australian authors. McMahon is also seen as having brought the techniques and approaches of the Russian and Soviet theatre practitioners like Stanislavski and Meyerhold to Australian theatre.

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

had a significant effect on theatre and several leading actors enlisted. After the war McMahon returned to the professional stage and acted as producer for Williamson and other managers. In 1920 he arranged with the Messrs Tait to start a repertory movement in Sydney. This was carried on for several years, the productions including ''The Dover Road'' by Milne; ''Abraham Lincoln'' by John Drinkwater; Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman; Franz Molnar's ''

Liliom ''Liliom'' is a 1909 play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. It was well known in its own right during the early to mid-20th century, but is best known today as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1945 musical ''Carousel''. P ...

''; Galsworthy's ''Foundations'', ''Loyalties'', and ''Windows''; and many others. With the break-up of the Sydney Repertory Theatre, the Sydney Players' Club was formed from its members, notably W. F. Jackson and S. R. Irving.''Sydney Morning Herald'' 18 March 1937
/ref> Another notable alumnus was

Doris Fitton Dame Doris Alice Lucy Walkden Fitton, (3 November 18972 April 1985) was an Australian actress of stage and film and theatrical director and producer who founded and for 35 years headed The Independent Theatre Ltd. in Sydney, New South Wales. ...

, who went on to found the Independent Theatre. In Melbourne in 1929 McMahon revived the repertory movement under the "Gregan McMahon Players" and in 11 years placed about 90 plays on the stage, including several of the later Shaw plays; Pirandello's ''Right You Are'' and ''

Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( it, Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, link=no ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist fiction, absurdist metatheatrical, metatheatric play about th ...

''; several plays by

James Bridie James Bridie (3 January 1888 in Glasgow – 29 January 1951 in Edinburgh) was the pseudonym of a Scottish playwright, screenwriter and physician whose real name was Osborne Henry Mavor.Daniel Leary (1982) ''Dictionary of Literary Biography: ...

; and others by Galsworthy, Drinkwater,

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

, G. K. Chesterton,

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature, literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama tech ...

Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. ...

, Daviot and Casella, in the presentation of which a generally high standard was reached. In spite of difficulties caused by war breaking out again, McMahon was still keeping up his standard of production when he died suddenly on 30 August 1941.

Personal life and honours

McMahon was survived by his wife, Mary Hungerford McMahon, whom he had married in 1899, and a son (also named Gregan McMahon) and a daughter. He was created

in 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, Gregan 1874 births 1941 deaths Australian male stage actors Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian people of Irish descent Male actors from Sydney University of Sydney alumni People educated at Sydney Grammar School People educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview