The 1920s London-Irish Theatre (Routledge Studies in Irish Literature)
The 1920s London-Irish Theatre: A History documents, explores and interrogates the Irish theatre that was prevalent in London during the 1920s. This includes consideration of the movements that impacted 1920s London theatre, such as the influential repertory theatres of the first decade of the twentieth century, as well as the detailed history of the Irish Players. Each identified London-Irish production is discussed through contemporary theatre reviews from London newspapers and journals, and within the decade’s historical context. Dramatists, their plays, actors, producers, and the physical theatres are all considered as extensively as evidence allows. Major productions, like those of Lennox Robinson’s The White-Headed Boy, Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, and Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan with its distinct Irish echoes are considered, along with productions of George Shiels’ Professor Tim and Bernard Duffy’s The Counter Charm and more. Producers discussed include James Fagan and Charles Macdona, while considered actors include Sara Allgood, Maire O’Neill, Arthur Sinclair, Fred O’Donovan, Ellen O’Malley, Ethel O’Shea, and many more. This leads, for the first time, to a full portrait of the Irish theatre that was produced in London during the 1920s in not only the West End, but also in smaller London theatres and in suburban repertory theatres.
Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, and the Dead James Connolly (Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries)
This book details the Irish socialistic tracks pursued by Bernard Shaw and Sean O’Casey, mostly after 1916, that were arguably impacted by the executed James Connolly. The historical context is carefully unearthed, stretching from its 1894 roots via W. B. Yeats’ dream of Shaw as a menacing, yet grinning sewing machine, to Shaw’s and O’Casey’s 1928 masterworks. In the process, Shaw’s War Issues for Irishmen, Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress, The Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman, Saint Joan, The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, and O’Casey’s The Story of the Irish Citizen Army, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars, and The Silver Tassie are reconsidered, revealing previously undiscovered textures to the masterworks. All of which provides a rethinking, a reconsideration of Ireland’s great drama of the 1920s, as well as furthering the knowledge of Shaw, O’Casey, and Connolly.
This book explores Bernard Shaw’s journalism from the mid-1880s through the Great War—a period in which Shaw contributed some of the most powerful and socially relevant journalism the western world has experienced. In approaching Shaw’s journalism, the promoter and abuser of the New Journalism, W. T. Stead, is contrasted to Shaw, as Shaw countered the sensational news copy Stead and his disciples generated. To understand Shaw’s brand of New Journalism, his responses to the popular press’ portrayals of high profile historical crises are examined, while other examples prompting Shaw’s journalism over the period are cited for depth: the 1888 Whitechapel murders, the 1890-91 O’Shea divorce scandal that fell Charles Stewart Parnell, peace crusades within militarism, the catastrophic Titanic sinking, and the Great War. Through Shaw’s journalism that undermined the popular press’ shock efforts that prevented rational thought, Shaw endeavored to promote clear thinking through the immediacy of his critical journalism. Arguably, Shaw saved the free press.
Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation
George Bernard Shaw has always been regarded as a political provocateur and socialist with ideas that reflected a complicated public philosophy. Scholarship abounds on Shaw’s politics, but Nelson Ritschel’s compelling study is the first to explore how Shaw’s presence in Irish radical debate manifested itself not only through his direct contributions but also through the way he and his efforts were engaged by others--most notably by the socially liberal dramatist J. M. Synge and the socialist agitator James Connolly.
Looking closely at such works as In the Shadow of the Glen, John Bull’s Other Island, Playboy of the Western World, and O’Flaherty, V.C., Ritschel opens an important door on the hidden dialogue between these men. The result is a gripping, even suspenseful, narrative of the intellectual march to the Easter Uprising of 1916.
They trod the boards when to do so was not entirely respectable, yet how they portrayed Irish womanhood closely reflected the perception of the Irish about themselves as they swept from the Catholic Emancipation to the very real idea of becoming a free state. Ritschel (humanities, Massachusetts Maritime Academy) takes a nationalist and socialist reading of Irish theater, focusing on the images crafted by Yeats, Gonne, Synge, Fay, Nic Shiubhlaigh, the Allgoods and O'Casey. He works from the times when a new image of Irishness was wresting itself from a archetype of victim and into the concept of national resilience and self-determination, with the latter authors helping to form the representation Ireland consciously wished to present of itself as complex, historically in touch, literate, transcendent, tough yet tender. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Synge and Irish Nationalism: The Precursor to Revolution
One of the most important playwrights of the Irish Renaissance, John Millington Synge is receiving renewed attention as his works are reread in light of the political and cultural contexts of his time. This book argues that his plays are far more deeply rooted, thematically and aesthetically, in the ancient native literature than was previously believed. It demonstrates that Synge borrowed themes and ideology from the ancient culture, serving as a nationalist agenda far more radical and modern than the agendas of the most common nationalists in his day. Synge rejects these nationalists, whom he believed were embracing foreign influences that were drowning Ireland in conservatively capitalistic initiatives and values.
The book's most important section examines The Playboy of the Western World. It discusses the play's characters as representative and recognizable types and reconsiders the play's thematic depiction of violence. Synge's representation of both commenced the process of separating and identifying the nationalist camps in Dublin from 1907 on. The volume argues that Synge's play drafted what became the Easter Rising. This argument is furthered through Synge's Deirdre of the Sorrows and the influence that his works ultimately bore on the plays and ideologies of Thomas MacDonagh, Padaraic Pearse, and James Connolly. The book also explores the acting style originally used to perform Synge's plays, thus gathering further evidence for its argument.
The Irish Renaissance encompassed one of the western world's most powerful dramatic movements. But most lists of productions have only included certain premieres, while ignoring all revivals and the productions of lesser-known theatres. This reference is a comprehensive list of all theatrical productions of the early modern Irish dramatic movement, including all premieres and revivals. The volume includes productions from the 1899 founding of the Irish Literary Theatre through the April 1916 Easter Rising, when British martial law significantly altered the course of Irish drama.
Entries are provided for more than 1,000 productions, with each entry offering the play's title, author, producing organization, building, city, and dates of performance. The entries are grouped in chapters devoted to particular years and are arranged chronologically within each chapter. The chronological arrangement of the entries reveals the development of Irish theatre, while an extensive index allows alphabetical access to the contents. By including entries for all productions, the volume indicates that many plays that are now neglected were produced numerous times and were central to the drama of the period. This work will force scholars to reconsider the major plays of the period, due to the record of their revivals, and the importance of many neglected plays will now have to be reassessed.