Living life: meeting Mary McEvoy

It’s been 15 years since Biddy departed Glenroe, but moving on from playing one of Ireland’s most popular television characters hasn’t been easy, admits Mary McEvoy.

“I’m getting to the point where I’m as well known for being me as I am Biddy. It’s been a battle, a big battle,” she says.

So, who is Mary McEvoy, we wonder.

“The older I get, the less I identify with what I do and more with who I am,” she explains.

“I’m just a human being on the planet, trying to get from one cloud of life to another and do as little harm as I can along the way. And that’s basically the definition of who I am.”

The years have had their ups and downs but Mary has a pragmatic view of life and her career. Living in Westmeath with her partner Garvan Gallagher also helps to keeps the feet firmly on the ground. The farm has been scaled down, with just eight sheep residing on the land, but rural life is very much part of her identity.

“It gets you out of the mindset of the entertainment world, which can be a bit bonkers. Nobody around where I live gives two damns about what I do. It’s great, you’re not the centre of your own universe,” she says.

“If I got an Oscar on Wednesday and I was selling cattle on Thursday, they’d want to know the price of the cattle and not about the Oscar. I like that. It’s great to realise that it’s not all about you because it actually never is.”

That realisation was a crucial one for Mary, who has publicly spoken out about her struggle with depression and anxiety, and written books on the topic.

“It’s really freeing to realise that you actually don’t figure. There’s a great saying: you’d worry less about what people think of you if you knew how little they do it,” she says.

Though mental health issues have become less taboo, Mary thinks more can be done to encourage openness.

“But I do think it’s harder in rural Ireland to talk about those issues. It’s a difficult thing for me sometimes when I’m in really bad form, even though it happens less and less,” she says.

“There are a lot more groups for people but we still have a long way to go. It’s about people who don’t suffer realising that maybe that person who you think is a cranky old git is really suffering. It’s to realise that no one is unpleasant or nasty deliberately. That’s what I think anyway – there is always a reason.

“We’d be making a mistake if we stopped talking about it. When you think about it, the mind is the foundation of everything.”

Challenging roles

Despite personal struggles, Mary has always worked regularly. Though the former Department of Agriculture employee would love to play a “glamour puss”, she says her career has been full of challenging roles.

Mary has performed in John B Keane’s The Matchmaker for years, with the show returning the Gaiety Theatre this April. She praises her co-star Jon Kenny, who she respects and admires hugely.

“He’s a comic genius, but he’s a genius genius in my opinion. He’s multi-talented and endlessly creative,” she enthuses. “I don’t know where he gets his energy from. He’s a beautiful singer… a stunning singer actually.”

She’s performed in The Matchmaker alongside the late Mick Lally and Frank Kelly among others, but Jon brought a “freshness” to the role.

“I’m not saying it wasn’t fresh before, but it just makes me reinvent again because I’ve been playing it for a long time on and off,” she says.

“And he’s great fun. He’s not one of these people who is different on stage. We’d often be standing at the side of the stage and he’d break into a jig, or else he might go into character and then we’d be laughing on stage.”

The play follows Dicky Mick Dicky O’Connor, who makes matches for the lonely, and though the play was written in the ’60s, Mary believes not much has changed for those looking for love.

“We have great truths in it, truths that are universal. People think there is no such thing as matchmakers any more, but it’s not really about match making, it’s about people meeting each other. That happens in every generation and it’ll happen until the end of time,” she says.

“There are a lot of people in the country who want to be married and find it hard to meet people. I do think we’re not as modernised as we think we are. The species doesn’t change, really. You might do Tinder instead of going to a matchmaker, but the dilemmas will be the same when you meet.”

There is “no vanity” in the play, which seems to suit her sensibilities quite well. At the end of the day, she enjoys going home to Westmeath and just being Mary.

“It’s great to just go home, take the dog out and talk to your neighbours about the weather,” she says. “I really like that.”

The Matchmaker runs in the Gaiety Theatre from the 1-23 April. Tickets cost from €26 Call 0818-719388 or visit ticketmaster.ie for bookings.