(This story is one of a series entitled “One Person’s Journey” telling how people from all walks of life, including a few rogues and rebels, have left their marks upon the world. To see a list of others featured in the series, click here.)
Shay Duffin had much in common with Brendan Behan, the boozy Irish playwright he portrayed thousands of times in a one-man stage play that toured North America for more than 30 years starting in the early 1970s. Both were born in Dublin into Catholic working-class families. Both left school as young teenagers to serve apprenticeships in trades designed to bring them future prosperity. And both eventually found their calling in the theatre, where critics for The New York Times and other major newspapers hailed their achievements. The big difference between them: Behan was a drinker; Duffin was not.
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