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." Growing out of the general Irish literary renaissance of the time, the Abbey quickly rose to international fame for both the quality of its productions and the controversies which often surrounded them. Yeats, Gregory and the others who ran the Abbey had a political agenda, and for whatever religious, class, or nationalistic reasons, some segment of Irish society was always taking offense. ... FULL STORY »
