The Miracle Worker: Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan

In 1930, a visitor to Ireland wrote to a friend:

“You must see Killarney…Can you imagine mountains of rhododendrons rising and massive into the bluest sky you’ve ever been under – white, crimson, scarlet, pink, buff, yellow and every shade God has painted on leaf and flower?  As if this was not beauty enough, you come out of a mountain pass and gaze, breathless and trembling upon ‘purple peaks that out of ancient woods arise,’ and there in the gorge below, are silver lakes, reflecting as in a row of mirrors all the glory that surrounds them!”

Such a vivid description suggests an eye for art and an ear for poetry.  So it may be surprising to learn that the author of this ode to Irish beauty was none other than Helen Keller, who lived her famous life both deaf and blind.

Keller visited Ireland along with her “miracle worker” teacher Annie Sullivan, whose parents were born in Limerick.

This trip, however, was no joyous homecoming for Sullivan. She did not share her pupil’s enthusiasm for Ireland.  In fact, Sullivan was reluctant to make the trip, in part because it forced her to confront her far-from-idyllic Irish immigrant childhood. One biographer even suggests that Ireland forever haunted Annie Sullivan.

Thus, if Annie Sullivan’s triumph with Helen Keller represents the bright side of the Irish-American experience – the faith in hard work, education and advancement – there is also a much darker side. 

Back on Broadway

The story of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan is, by now, world famous. This March, yet another generation of theatergoers will flock to see a new Broadway production of The Miracle Worker, the William Gibson play that was adapted into an award-winning film in 1962, starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. 

This time around, on Broadway, Alison Pill (last seen in Martin McDonough’s Irish play The Lieutenant of Inishmore) will star as Annie Sullivan while 13-year-old Irish-American Hollywood starlet Abigail Breslin will portray Keller.

Though at times harrowing, The Miracle Worker is generally seen as an inspiring story, in which a teacher and pupil overcome great obstacles so that they can communicate with each other and then go out into the world and help others do the same.

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Nster.com