After ten years of laughter, craic and pushing boundaries, everyone's favourite "tart with a heart" Maggie Muff is set to make her last on-stage appearance next month.
In January 2013, during the height of the flag protests, Maggie Muff played by Caroline Curran burst onto the MAC stage and has become a local theatre icon ever since.
'Maggie – Yer Ma' is the final instalment in the Maggie plays that gave us '50 Shades of Red, White and Blue and 'Maggie’s Feg Run' and will run at the MAC from January 25 to February 12.
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Maggie Muff is the brainchild of writer and producer Leesa Harker and the newest play will once again be directed by Andrea Montgomery.
Produced by Leesa’s own production company, Red Brick Road Productions, her plays continue to bring a demographic not previously seen to theatres across the province.
Speaking to Belfast Live Leesa, Caroline and Andrea shared what Maggie meant to them over the past decade and how they have been preparing to say goodbye when she takes her final bow.
Leesa said: "It's kind of bittersweet for me. Obviously, it's really sad that it is the last play and it is the last time it's going to be on but it does feel like we've had ten years and had a Maggie play on for every year for the last ten years - except for the Covid year.
"We've had a really good run at it, I think everyone has seen it now and I think it is time. She's got her happy ending."
Caroline has acted the part of Maggie - all of the other characters - in every one of these one-woman shows and saying ‘yes’ to Maggie in 2013 took her from working backstage to being one of the most well-known comedy actors in Belfast.
"Playing a character for ten years, in our world of the theatre industry is a very long time - what would that be in dog years? Like 108 or something," Caroline laughed.
"I just want to say thank you to every single person who has come and supported me over the past ten years.
"She's been such a big part of my life and I love her and will definitely miss her. When I started this, my niece was eight and now she is going to come and see this show because she's coming 19 in February so it's like coming full circle."
In 'Maggie - Yer Ma', with Billy in jail for the biggest feg run heist in history and Maggie’s ma dropping a bombshell that will curl your toes, Maggie finds herself a single Ma. Life sure has changed for Maggie, but can she get back til herself? Til the way she was?
Caroline ensured that you don't have to have seen the previous plays to fall in love with Maggie and enjoy her last stage performance while you can.
Andrea added: "I'm a Canadian so the oddness of me repeatedly directing this a year for ten years this quintessentially Belfast character whose language I could barely understand when I first got the script ten years ago is kind of strange.
"The reason I identify with her is that she is so powerful about knowing what she wants and saying communicating this to other women. You should know what you want, have your way, stand up for what you believe in and what you want and she does all of that without losing her big heart."
Caroline continued: "She's so relatable and she does have a massive heart... but she's a hard woman and she's been through a lot and you kind of see it through this one a lot and find out more about her childhood, more about what she went through.
'Maggie - Yer Ma!' is coming for the very last time to the MAC Belfast from January 25 to February 12. For more information and tickets, see here.
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