Born: 20 November 1876, Ireland
Died: 12 May 1948
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: Catherine Mary Brennan
This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by Bridget Hourican. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
Kathleen O’Brennan (c.1876–1948), playwright and journalist, was an early activist in the Gaelic League, where she met Sinéad de Valera. In 1918/19, she undertook a lecture tour in the USA, speaking on Sinn Féin, the place of women in the Irish republic, and Feis Ceoil. Returning to Ireland, she became involved with the Abbey theatre and wrote a two-act play, ‘Full measure’, which was performed in the Abbey in August 1928, with her friend Sara Allgood in the lead. Set in a country town, it dealt with emigration and the stranglehold of the gombeen man on rural communities. It enjoyed some popular but little critical success. The Irish Times critic told the inveterate theatregoer Joseph Holloway that it lacked staying power, but Holloway found it ‘subtle, delicate . . . the character drawing and dialogue were excellent and the play interesting and biting in part’ (Holloway, i, 38). The following year he noted the difficulty of getting a second play put on in the Abbey, citing O’Brennan as an instance of someone whose later work was rejected despite early success. She continued to frequent the Abbey, where she often met Holloway, and may have worked there in some capacity, but she had no more plays performed. In later years she supported herself through journalism, working as one of the few female reporters on the Irish Press, where she was described as peculiar and ‘very mannishly dressed, complete with pince-nez, at one side of which hung a shoe lace for antique style and support’ (Oram, 178). Like Lily, she was diminutive in stature. In 1942 she began to contribute regular articles to the Leader – these were mostly obituaries and appreciations. She particularly championed women whose work she felt was overlooked, such as Louise Gavan Duffy, a headmistress, Lily Williams (1874–1940), an artist, and Agnes O’Farrelly, an academic. She contributed until her death on 12 May 1948, less than three weeks before Lily’s death.