Gillian Hanna
Gillian Hanna was an Irish stage, film, TV and voice actress. She founded the feminist Monstrous Regiment Theatre Company, about which she wrote a book published in 1991.
Early life
Hanna graduated with a First Class degree in Modern Languages from Trinity College, Dublin. She went on to work as an actor as well as a translator. In the latter role, she provided the original translation for Gavin Richards' adaptation of the Dario Fo play Accidental Death of an Anarchist, which was a major success for the Belt and Braces Roadshow Company in 1979-81.Career
In 1975, Hanna founded the feminist Monstrous Regiment Theatre Company, remaining with the company for 15 years. In 1981, she starred in Honor Moore's Mourning Pictures at the Tricycle Theatre, a Monstrous Regiment production with original music by Tony Haynes. The play was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1982.She later published a book about the company, Monstrous Regiment: A Collective Celebration. An essay of hers, 'An Age Of Innocence', was published in the collection Trinity Tales: Trinity College in the Sixties.
Hanna had extensive credits on stage as well as on TV and film. Among these, she played the fragile typist teacher Mrs Gossage in the sixth series of Grange Hill, as well as Brenna Jordache in the infamous 'body under the patio' storyline of the Channel 4 soap Brookside.
Books
Monstrous Regiment: A Collective Celebration, London: Nick Hern Books,*