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| 12/27/1904 |
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The Abbey and The Playboy
On this day in 1904 Dublin's Abbey Theatre opened, premiering W. B. Yeats's "On Baile's Strand" and Lady Gregory's "Spreading the News." The Abbey quickly rose to fame for both the quality of its productions and the controversies which often surrounded them -- the most famous example being J. M. Synge's "unmitigated, protracted libel upon Irish peasant men and, worse still, upon Irish girlhood." |
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Bartleby: The Columbia Encyclopedia
A short biography explores the author's life and works.
"In Paris he met his compatriot William Butler Yeats, who persuaded Synge to live for a while in the Aran Islands and then return to Dublin and devote himself to creative work. All of Synge's plays reflect his experiences in the Aran Islands. Intense and poetic in style, his works depict the bleak and tragic lives of Irish peasants and fisherfolk. ... Two of Synge's comedies, The Well of the Saints (1905) and The Playboy of the Western World (1907), were presented by the Abbey players. The latter play created a furor of resentment among Irish patriots stung by Synge's spoof of heroic ideals and nationalism." |  | Online Books Page
Find the electronic texts of Deirdre of the Sorrows, In the Shadow of the Glen, The Playboy of the Western World, Riders to the Sea, The Tinker's Wedding, and The Well of the Saints. | | Princess Grace Irish Library
This website offers a good selection of resources, in spite of the unreadable biography (!). Find detailed bibliographic information on works by and about the author, quotes, a miscellany of notes on various topics, and commentary and critical reviews of Synge's works. W. B. Yeats on the "Playboy riot":
"'On the second performance of The Playboy of the Western World, about forty men who sat in the middle of the pit succeeded in making the play entirely inaudible. Some of them brought tin trumpets, and the noise began immediately upon the rise of the curtain. For days articles in the Press called for the withdrawal of the play, but we played for the seven nights we had announced; and before the week's end opinion had turned in our favour. There were, however, nightly disturbances and a good deal of rioting in the surrounding streets. On the last night of the play there were, I believe, five hundred police keeping order in the theatre and in its neighbourhood.'" | |
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The TinL masthead features photography by
Natasha D'Schommer
, and the book art featured is by Jim Rosenau.
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