The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in
Dublin, Ireland
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...
, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day. The Abbey was the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world; from 1925 onwards it received an annual subsidy from the
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...
. Since July 1966, the Abbey has been located at 26 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1.
In its early years, the theatre was closely associated with the writers of the
Irish Literary Revival
The Irish Literary Revival (also called the Irish Literary Renaissance, nicknamed the Celtic Twilight) was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century. It includes works of poetry, music, art, and literature.
O ...
, many of whom were involved in its founding and most of whom had plays staged there. The Abbey served as a nursery for many of leading
Irish playwrights, including
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
,
Lady Gregory
Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (''née'' Persse; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, ...
,
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.
...
and
John Millington Synge
Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. His best known play ''The Playboy of the Western World'' was poorly r ...
, as well as leading actors. In addition, through its extensive programme of touring abroad and its high visibility to foreign, particularly American, audiences, it has become an important part of the Irish cultural brand.
History
Origins
![AbbeyPosterOpeningNight](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/AbbeyPosterOpeningNight.jpg)
The Abbey arose from three distinct bases. The first was the seminal
Irish Literary Theatre
W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn published a "Manifesto for Irish Literary Theatre" in 1897, in which they proclaimed their intention of establishing a national theatre for Ireland.
The Irish Literary Theatre was founded by Yeats, Lady ...
. Founded by Lady Gregory,
Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn (30 January 1859 – 5 December 1923) was an Irish playwright and early republican political and cultural activist, as the first president of Sinn Féin from 1905–08.
Early life
Martyn was the elder son of John Martyn of Tullira ...
and W. B. Yeats
in 1899—with assistance from
George Moore—it presented plays in the
Antient Concert Rooms and the
Gaiety Theatre, which brought critical approval but limited public interest. Lady Gregory envisioned a society promoting "ancient idealism" dedicated to crafting works of Irish theatre pairing Irish culture with European theatrical methods.
The second base involved the work of two Dublin directors,
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and
Frank
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
Curr ...
Fay. William worked in the 1890s with a touring company in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, while his brother Frank was involved in amateur dramatics in Dublin. After William returned to Dublin, the Fay brothers staged productions in halls around the city and eventually formed
W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company, focused on the development of Irish acting talent. In April 1902, the Fays gave three performances of
Æ's play ''Deirdre'' and Yeats' ''Cathleen Nà Houlihan'' in St Theresa's Hall on Clarendon Street. The performances played to a mainly working-class audience rather than the usual middle-class Dublin theatregoers. The run was a great success, thanks in part to the beauty and force of
Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne MacBride ( ga, Maud Nic Ghoinn Bean Mhic Giolla BhrÃghde; 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an English-born Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. Of Anglo-Irish descent, she was won over to Irish nationalism ...
, who played the lead in Yeats' play. The company continued at the Antient Concert Rooms, producing works by
Seumas O'Cuisin,
Fred Ryan
Frederick Joseph Ryan Jr. (born April 12, 1955) is an American media proprietor, political adviser, and lawyer who serves as the publisher and chief executive officer of ''The Washington Post''. He was the president and chief operating officer o ...
and Yeats.
The third base was the financial support and experience of
Annie Horniman
Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman CH (3 October 1860 – 6 August 1937) was an English theatre patron and manager. She established the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and founded the first regional repertory theatre company in Britain at the Gaiety ...
,
[ a middle-class Englishwoman with previous experience of theatre production, having been involved in the presentation of ]George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
's ''Arms and the Man
''Arms and the Man'' is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', in Latin:
''Arma virumque cano'' ("Of arms and the man I sing").
The play was first produced on 21 April 1894 at the Aven ...
'' in London in 1894. An acquaintance of Yeats from London circles, including the Order of the Golden Dawn, she came to Dublin in 1903 to act as Yeats' unpaid secretary and to make costumes for a production of his play ''The King's Threshold''. Her money helped found the Abbey Theatre and, according to the critic Adrian Frazier, would "make the rich feel at home, and the poor—on a first visit—out of place."
The founding of the Theatre is also connected with a broader wave of change found in European drama at the end of the nineteenth century. The founding of Théâtre Libre in Paris in 1887 and the work of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1895 represented a challenge to a "stale metropolitanism". This movement echoes Lady Gregory's commitment and determination to make the Abbey Theatre a theatre for the people.
Foundation
Encouraged by the St Theresa's Hall success, Yeats, Lady Gregory, Æ, Martyn, and John Millington Synge founded the Irish National Theatre Society in 1903 with funding from Horniman. They were joined by actors and playwrights from Fay's company. At first, they staged performances in the Molesworth Hall. When the Mechanics' Theatre
The Mechanics' Hall, also known as the Hibernian Theatre of Varieties, was a theatre and music hall in Lower Abbey Street, Dublin. It stood at the site of the current Abbey Theatre at 26 Lower Abbey Street.
A theatre or circus has stood on this ...
in Lower Abbey Street and an adjacent building in Marlborough Street became available after fire safety authorities closed it, Horniman and William Fay agreed to buy and refit the space to meet the society's needs.
On 11 May 1904, the Society formally accepted Horniman's offer of the use of the building. As Horniman did not usually reside in Ireland, the royal letters patent
Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...
required were granted in the name of Lady Gregory, although paid for by Horniman. The founders appointed William Fay theatre manager, responsible for training the actors in the newly established repertory company. They commissioned Yeats' brother Jack
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
to paint portraits of all the leading figures in the society for the foyer, and hired Sarah Purser
Sarah Henrietta Purser RHA (22 March 1848 – 7 August 1943) was an Irish artist mainly noted for her work with stained glass.
Biography
Purser was born in Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) in County Dublin, and raised in Dungarvan, County Wate ...
to design stained glass for the same space.
On 27 December, the curtains went up on opening night. The bill consisted of three one-act plays, ''On Baile's Strand'' and ''Cathleen NÃ Houlihan'' by Yeats, and ''Spreading the News
''Spreading the News'' is a short one-act comic play by Lady Gregory, which she wrote for the opening night of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, 27 Dec. 1904. It was performed as part of a triple bill alongside William Butler Yeats's "On Baile's Strand" ...
'' by Lady Gregory. On the second night, ''In the Shadow of the Glen'' by Synge replaced the second Yeats play. These two bills alternated over a five-night run. Frank Fay, playing Cúchulainn in ''On Baile's Strand'', was the first actor on the Abbey stage. Although Horniman had designed the costumes, neither she nor Lady Gregory was present, as Horniman had already returned to England. In addition to providing funding, her chief role with the Abbey over the coming years was to organise publicity and bookings for their touring productions in London and provincial England.
In 1905 without properly consulting Horniman, Yeats, Lady Gregory and Synge decided to turn the theatre into a limited liability company
A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
, the National Theatre Society Ltd. Annoyed by this treatment, Horniman hired Ben Iden Payne Ben Iden Payne (September 5, 1881 – April 6, 1976), also known as B. Iden Payne, was an English actor, director and teacher. Active in professional theater for seventy years, he helped the first modern Repertory Theatre in the United Kingdom, was ...
, a former Abbey employee, to help run a new repertory company which she founded in Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. Leading actors Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh
Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh (8 May 1883 – 1958) was an Irish actress and republican activist. She started acting in her teens and appeared in the first Irish-language play performed in Ireland. She was a founder-member of the Abbey Theatre and ...
, Honor Lavelle (Helen Laird
Helen Laird (1874–1957), was an Irish actress also known as ‘Honor Lavelle’, a costumier, teacher, and feminist.
Life and acting
Laird was born on 12 April 1874 in Limerick to John Laird and Marion Seymour. Her father was a protestant p ...
), Emma Vernon, Máire Garvey, Frank Walker, Seamus O'Sullivan
Seumas or Seamus O'Sullivan (born James Sullivan Starkey; 17 July 1879 – 24 March 1958) was an Irish poetry, Irish poet and editor of ''The Dublin Magazine''. His father, William Starkey (1836-1918), a physician, was also a poet and a friend of S ...
, Pádraic Colum
Padraic Colum (8 December 1881 – 11 January 1972) was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival.
Early life
Col ...
and George Roberts left the Abbey.
The press was impressed with the building and the ''Cork Constitution'' wrote that "the theatre has neither orchestra nor bar, and the principal entrance is through a building which was formerly the Dublin morgue." Theatregoers were surprised and thought it to be scandalous that part of the theatre used to be a morgue. The orchestra was established under the guidance of Dr John F Larchet.
Contributions of founders and funders
= Lady Gregory
=
Gregory helped create the Irish Literary Theatre, which would later form one base for the INTS, with W.B Yeats and Edward Martyn. She met Yeats in 1898, and he admitted to her that it was a dream of his to create a theatre in which new ambitious Irish plays could be performed. The idea seemed more and more possible to achieve as they kept talking and by the end of their first meeting they had a plan for how to make a "national theatre" a reality. In the first year of the theatre, Lady Gregory was in charge of finding money and support from patrons, and she even donated some of her own money. She was critical in making the ILT and the INTS function financially before Annie Horniman's support.
In 1903, when Horniman offered the INTS a theatre, Lady Gregory schemed to bypass the terms of the deal. She didn't like Horniman and was happy when she left, saying she was "free from her and from further foreign invasion." She wrote many plays for the theatre, specializing in the one-act play.
= William Butler Yeats
=
The Abbey Theatre is sometimes called Yeats' theatre or a manifestation of his own artistic ambitions and ideals. He wanted a theatre in which the playwright's words were the most important thing, prevailing over the actor and the audience. It was very important to him that the authors had control. It was because of him and his efforts that Lady Gregory, Synge and he became the Board of Directors of the INTS. It was only after meeting Lady Gregory that Yeats thought the creation of such a theatre possible. He worked closely with her for almost a year before the first production of the ILT, during which his play ''Cathleen Ni Houlihan'' and Edward Martyn's ''The Heather Field'' were performed to great success, some even calling it "the cultural event of the decade," though some accused him of being too political or even of writing a heretical play.
He then adopted a new, more inclusive politic, which helped him and Lady Gregory recruit many new patrons, most Protestant and/or Unionist. As early as 1900, Yeats sent a letter to Lady Gregory that implied that he was confident about finding a reliable patron who, at the time, remained anonymous. The patron he was talking about was Annie Horniman, who had anonymously financed Yeats' first play in 1884. By that point, he was starting to want The Abbey to be seen as nationalist. However, by October 1901, he had lost interest in the ILT as a mean to express his artistic vision, as he was forced to make sacrifices to accommodate co-workers. He chose to stay because of his relationship with Horniman, who he saw as a mean to secure his ambitions and those of the Fay Brothers' troupe of Irish actors.
His relationship with Horniman was essential to his projects, so much so that he declared in front of an audience that he would not accept money from Nationalists and Unionists, which forced him to change the entire politics of the INTS. He gave this speech in 1903 and by 1904 he was the president of the Abbey Theatre. When Horniman left, he wanted to bring back the nationalist aspect the theatre once had but was stopped by a threat from Horniman to close it down; he finally had the last word with the help of Bernard Shaw and Lady Gregory. During the summer of 1909, Shaw offered his play ''Blanco Posnet'' to the Abbey, a play previously censored that allowed him to challenge British authority and to come back to the good graces of Nationalists, thus giving him a new reputation and making the INTS closer to becoming "a representative Irish Institution." Following Horniman's offer to sell him back the theatre, he then tried to "play" her so that she would pay more. Yeats, with the help of Lady Gregory, bought the Abbey back and sued Horniman for the subsidy he believed that she owed but won only on the principle, and did not receive the money.
= Miss Annie Horniman
=
Annie Horniman, a British theatre enthusiast and manager, was essential in the creation of the Abbey Theater, as she was its first significant patron and the woman who offered the edifice in which it would later be established. She was first brought in by Yeats as a costume designer for his play ''The King's Threshold'', as she greatly loved his art and it was also a way for him to get closer to her. Yeats's long relationship with her and her love for theatre made her more likely to accept to become a permanent patron and, by 1901, her money was secured. Her support was so important that he already had a role for her in the Abbey Theatre before it was even created. However, by the time the ITL became the INTS, Yeats had to assure her that her money would not be used to fund a Nationalist rebellion.
She supported him as well as the INTS with financial support as she came from a rich family and, in 1903, after Yeats eloquently declared his apolitical theatrical ideals, she offered to give him a theatre in Dublin worth thirteen thousand pounds, but for the deal to work, she had strict conditions. Firstly, she requested that his speech, essays on the "Irish National Theatre," and her offer be made public. Secondly, the point she stressed most, there were to be no politics at all. She finally gave the building for the Abbey Theatre in 1904, but remained the owner. Yeats accepted her terms but Gregory and Synge worked on finding ways to finesse their way around them before officially accepting. She didn't want to have anything to do with Irish politics, especially not nationalism, and was very reactive to anything she saw as political, which caused several inflammatory feuds with her colleagues. She also did not care for the accessibility of theatre, which was an important issue for the founders, and she created additional rules for ticket pricing, and made the Abbey Theatre one of the most expensive theatres in Dublin. From then, she became the manager of the Abbey Theatre. Over the years, she put many times the theatre's value in money back into it in exchange for input on the plays being staged and respect from the company's directors.
She remained involved for a few strenuous years and left in 1907, angrily realizing she couldn't achieve self-expression at the Abbey, but stayed financially involved until 1910. From 1907 to 1909, she turned on the INTS, essentially threatening to close if anything she deemed political was performed, even if the interpretation was debatable. After the riots following Synge's ''Playboy of the Western World'', she fully expressed her hatred for Irish nationalism and patriotism and threatened the Abbey once again, but when ''Blanco Posnet'' was presented and the Nationalists were appeased, she made a deal with Yeats and Lady Gregory to sell them the Theatre. The negotiations dragged on and in 1910, when the Abbey stayed open on the day King Edward VII died, Horniman had a final dispute in court with Yeats before leaving the Abbey Theatre for good.
Early years
In the early years, there were challenges in finding plays by Irish playwrights, and so the founders established guidelines for playwrights submitting plays and wrote some plays themselves. The emergence of the theatre, the challenge of finding plays by Irish playwrights, the protests surrounding ''Playboy of the Western World'', and the work of the Irish Theatre were key developments during this time. As one of the first directors of the new Abbey Theatre, Lady Gregory exchanged correspondence with her counterparts W.B Yeats and JM Synge which chronicled the further development of the new Abbey Theatre including themes such as the critical reception of plays, the challenge of balancing state funding and artistic liberty, and the contributions of actors and others supporting the theatre. The new Abbey Theatre found great popular success, and large crowds attended many of its productions. The Abbey was fortunate in having Synge as a key member, as he was then considered one of the foremost English-language dramatists. The theatre staged many plays by eminent or soon-to-be eminent authors, including Yeats, Lady Gregory, Moore, Martyn, Padraic Colum
Padraic Colum (8 December 1881 – 11 January 1972) was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival.
Early life
Col ...
, George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, Oliver St John Gogarty
Oliver Joseph St. John Gogarty (17 August 1878 – 22 September 1957) was an Irish poet, author, otolaryngologist, athlete, politician, and well-known conversationalist. He served as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's novel ...
, F. R. Higgins, Thomas MacDonagh
Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh ( ga, Tomás Anéislis Mac Donnchadha; 1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising o ...
, Lord Dunsany
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957, usually Lord Dunsany) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. Over 90 volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays appeared in his lifetime.Lanham, M ...
, T. C. Murray
Thomas Cornelius Murray (17 January 1873 – 7 March 1959) was an Irish dramatist who was closely associated with the Abbey Theatre. He was born in Macroom, County Cork, and educated at St Patrick's Teacher Training College in Drumcondra, Dubli ...
, James Cousins
James Henry Cousins (22 July 1873 – 20 February 1956) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright, actor, critic, editor, teacher and poet. He used several pseudonyms, including Mac OisÃn and the Hindu name Jayaram.
Life
Cousins was born at 18, Ke ...
and Lennox Robinson
Esmé Stuart Lennox Robinson (4 October 1886 – 15 October 1958) was an Irish dramatist, poet and theatre producer and director who was involved with the Abbey Theatre.
Life
Robinson was born in Westgrove, Douglas, County Cork and raised in ...
. Many of these authors served on the board, and it was during this time that the Abbey gained its reputation as a writers' theatre.
The Abbey's fortunes worsened in January 1907 when the opening of Synge's ''The Playboy of the Western World
''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo (o ...
'' resulted in civil disturbance.[ The troubles (since known as the '']Playboy Riots
''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo (o ...
'') were encouraged, in part, by nationalists
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
who believed the theatre was insufficiently political and who took offence at Synge's use of the word ' shift', as it was known at the time as a symbol representing Kitty O'Shea
Katharine Parnell (née Wood; 30 January 1846 – 5 February 1921), known before her second marriage as Katharine O'Shea, and usually called Katie O'Shea by friends and Kitty O'Shea by enemies, was an English woman of aristocratic background ...
and adultery, and hence was seen as a slight on the virtue of Irish womanhood. Much of the crowd rioted loudly, and the actors performed the remainder of the play in dumbshow
Dumbshow, also dumb show or dumb-show, is defined by the ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' as "gestures used to convey a meaning or message without speech; mime." In the theatre the word refers to a piece of dramatic mime in general, or more particu ...
. The theatre's decision to call in the police further roused the anger of the nationalists. Although press opinion soon turned against the rioters and the protests faded, management of the Abbey was shaken. They chose not to stage Synge's next—and last completed—play, ''The Tinker's Wedding
''The Tinker's Wedding'' is a two-act play by the Irish playwright J. M. Synge, whose main characters—as the title suggests—are Irish Tinker
Irish Travellers ( ga, an lucht siúil, meaning "the walking people"), also known as Pavees or M ...
'' (1908), for fear of further disturbances. That same year, the Fay brothers' association with the theatre ended when they emigrated to the United States due to a clash with Yeats outlook;[ Lennox Robinson took over the Abbey's day-to-day management after Horniman withdrew financial support.][
In 1909, Shaw's '']The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet
''The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet: A Sermon in Crude Melodrama'' is a one-act play by George Bernard Shaw, first produced in 1909. Shaw describes the play as a religious tract in dramatic form.Violet M. Broad & C. Lewis Broad ''Dictionary to the ...
'' led to further protests. The subsequent discussion occupied a full issue of the theatre's journal ''The Arrow.'' Also that year, the proprietors decided to make the Abbey independent of Annie Horniman, who had indicated a preference for this course. Relations with Horniman had been tense, partly because she wished to be involved in choosing which plays were to be performed and when. As a mark of respect for the death of King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
, an understanding existed that Dublin theatres were to close on the night of 7 May 1910. Robinson, however, kept the Abbey open. When Horniman heard of Robinson's decision, she severed her connections with the company. By her own estimate, she had invested £10,350—worth approximately $1 million in 2007 US dollars—on the project.
With the loss of Horniman, Synge, and the Fays, the Abbey under Robinson tended to drift, suffering from falling public interest and box office returns. This trend was halted for a time by the emergence of Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.
...
as an heir to Synge. O'Casey's career as a dramatist began with ''The Shadow of a Gunman
''The Shadow of a Gunman'' is a 1923 tragicomedy play by Seán O'Casey set during the Irish War of Independence. It centres on the mistaken identity of a building tenant who is thought to be an IRA assassin.
It is the first in O'Casey's "Dublin ...
'', staged by the Abbey in 1923. This was followed by ''Juno and the Paycock
''Juno and the Paycock'' is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Ir ...
'' in 1924, and ''The Plough and the Stars
''The Plough and the Stars'' is a four-act Play (theatre), play by the Irish writer Seán O'Casey that was first performed on 8 February 1926 at the Abbey Theatre. It is set in Dublin and addresses the 1916 Easter Rising. The play's title refe ...
'' in 1926. Theatregoers arose in riots over the last play, in a way reminiscent of those that had greeted the ''Playboy'' 19 years earlier. Concerned about public reaction, the Abbey rejected O'Casey's next play. He emigrated to London shortly thereafter.
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the Irish Rebellion of 1916 almost ended the theatre; however, in 1924, Yeats and Lady Gregory offered the Abbey to the government of the Free State as a gift to the Irish people.[ Although the government refused, the following year Minister of Finance ]Ernest Blythe
Ernest Blythe (; 13 April 1889 – 23 February 1975) was an Irish journalist, managing director of the Abbey Theatre, and politician who served as Minister for Finance from 1923 to 1932, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and Vice-President of t ...
arranged an annual government subsidy of £850 for the Abbey. This made the company the first state-supported theatre in the English-speaking world. The subsidy allowed the theatre to avoid bankruptcy, but the amount was too small to rescue it from financial difficulty.
Affiliated schools
The Abbey School of Acting
The Abbey Theatre School or the Abbey School of Acting, was a drama school associated with the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland. Established in 1911 by W. B. Yeats, it was developed by Lady Gregory to continue performances in Dublin while the main ...
was set up that year. The Abbey School of Ballet was established by Ninette de Valois
Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, ...
— who had provided choreography for a number of Yeats' plays – and ran until 1933.
The Peacock and the Gate
Around this time the company acquired additional space, allowing them to create a small experimental theatre, the ''Peacock'', in the ground floor of the main theatre. In 1928, Hilton Edwards
Hilton Edwards (2 February 1903 – 18 November 1982) was an English-born Irish actor, lighting designer and theatrical producer. He co-founded the Gate Theatre with his partner Micheál Mac Liammóir and two others, and has been referred to as ...
, Micheál MacLiammoir, cabaret impresario Daisy Bannard Cogley
Daisy "Toto" Bannard Cogley (born Jeanne Marie Desirée Bannard; 5 May 1884 – 8 September 1965) was a French-born Irish theatre actress, director, producer and designer. A socialist, she was active in the Irish War of Independence from 1917, ...
and Gearóid Ó Lochlainn launched the Gate Theatre Studio
Gate Theatre Studio, often referred to as simply the Gate Theatre, is a former independent theatre on Villiers Street in London.
History
Founded in October 1925 by Peter Godfrey and his wife Molly Veness, the theatre was originally on the top ...
, leasing the Peacock from 14 October and using the venue to stage works by European and American dramatists.
The Gate also sought work from new Irish playwrights and moved to its own premises in 1930. Despite the Peacock space, the Abbey itself entered a period of artistic decline. This is illustrated by the story of how one new work was said to have come to the Gate Theatre. Denis Johnston
(William) Denis Johnston (18 June 1901 – 8 August 1984) was an Irish writer. Born in Dublin, he wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay of Jonathan Swift, a memoir and an eccentric work on co ...
reportedly submitted his first play, ''Shadowdance'', to the Abbey; however, Lady Gregory rejected it, returning it to the author with "The Old Lady says No" written across the title page. Johnston decided to re-title the play. The Gate staged ''The Old Lady Says 'No' '' in ''The Peacock'' in 1928. (Note: academic critics Joseph Ronsley and Christine St. Peter have questioned the veracity of this story.)
1930s to 1950s
The tradition of the Abbey as primarily a writers' theatre survived Yeats' withdrawal from day-to-day involvement. Frank O'Connor
Frank O'Connor (born Michael Francis O'Donovan; 17 September 1903 – 10 March 1966) was an Irish author and translator. He wrote poetry (original and translations from Irish), dramatic works, memoirs, journalistic columns and features on a ...
sat on the board from 1935 to 1939, served as managing director from 1937, and had two plays staged during this period. He was alienated from and unable to cope with many of the other board members. They held O'Connor's past adultery against him. Although he fought formidably to retain his position, soon after Yeats died the board began machinations to remove O'Connor. In 1941 Ernest Blythe
Ernest Blythe (; 13 April 1889 – 23 February 1975) was an Irish journalist, managing director of the Abbey Theatre, and politician who served as Minister for Finance from 1923 to 1932, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and Vice-President of t ...
, a politician, who had arranged the first State subsidy for the theatre, became managing director.
During the 1940s and 1950s, there was a steady decline in the number of new productions. There were 104 new plays produced from 1930 to 1940, whereas this number dropped to 62 for 1940–1950. Thereafter, there was another decrease. However, the theatre was undeterred by the dwindling amount of productions of original plays and had their audience numbers increase. The attitude of the general public had vastly changed towards the Abbey since the beginning of the century. It was no longer reserved as a theatre for the rich and for a small clique of intellectuals, it had become a theatre for the people. The plays of O'Casey and Lennox Robinson that were being produced by theatre at the time most likely aided in this shift. Larger audiences also brought a change in the Abbey's repertory policy. Rather than the theatre's old system of limiting the initial run of a new play to week, no matter how popular the play became, the Abbey ran their new plays until their audience was exhausted. This change in policy which was brought about partly because of the shortage of new plays was to have serious consequences in future years when the Abbey found its stock of popular revivals exhausted.
During the 1940s and 1950s, the staple fare at the Abbey was comic farce set in the idealised peasant world of Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of governm ...
. If such a world had ever existed, it was no longer considered relevant by most Irish citizens, and as a result, audience numbers continued to decline. This drift might have been more dramatic but popular actors, including F. J. McCormick
F. J. McCormick (real name Peter Christopher Judge) (1 June 1890 in Skerries, Dublin, Skerries, Ireland – 24 April 1947 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland) was an Irish ethnicity, Irish actor who became known for his work at Dublin's Abbey T ...
, and dramatists, including George Shiels
George Shiels (24 June 1881 – 19 September 1949) was an Ireland, Irish dramatist whose plays were a success both in his native Ulster and at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. His most famous plays are ''The Rugged Path'', ''The Passing Day'', ...
, could still draw a crowd. Austin Clarke staged events for his Dublin Verse Speaking Society—later the Lyric Theatre—at the Peacock from 1941 to 1944 and the Abbey from 1944 to 1951.
On 17 July 1951, a fire damaged the Abbey Theatre, with only the Peacock remaining intact. It is often recounted that the building was destroyed in the fire, but Frank MacDonald contends this is an overstatement, citing the continued use of the building by the Irish Academy of Letters until its eventual demolition in 1960. The company leased the old Queen's Theatre in September and continued in residence there until 1966.[
The board had plans for rebuilding with a design by the Irish architect Michael Scott which dated back to 1959. The magazine, the '']Irish Builder
The ''Irish Builder'' was a successful trade journal published in Dublin, Ireland, under various names. Names used by the journal were: '' The Dublin Builder, or Illustrated Irish Architectural, Engineering, Mechanics’ & Sanitary Journal'' (185 ...
,'' argued that it was favourable to refurbish the old building rather than build a new one, as "we feel the tourists who come here would prefer to see the old Abbey of Yeats and Synge, rather than the Abbey of Scott." On 3 September 1963, the President of Ireland
The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces.
The president holds office for seven years, and can ...
, Éamon de Valera, laid the foundation stone for the new theatre, and the Abbey reopened on 18 July 1966. The cost of the new building was £725,000, an overspend on the original estimated £235,000, and resulted in the Dáil Committee for Public Accounts calling for an investigation into the overrun.
1950s to 1990s
A new building, a new generation of dramatists, including such figures as Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiograph ...
, Brian Friel
Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription req ...
and Tom Murphy, and tourism that included the National Theatre as a key cultural attraction, helped revive the theatre. Beginning in 1957, the theatre's participation in the Dublin Theatre Festival
The Dublin Theatre Festival is Europe's oldest specialised theatre festival. It was founded by theatre impresario Brendan Smith in 1957 and has, with the exception of two years, produced a season of international and Irish theatre each autumn. ...
aided its revival. Plays such as Brian Friel
Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription req ...
's ''Philadelphia Here I Come!
''Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' is a 1964 play by Irish dramatist Brian Friel. Set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, County Donegal, the play launched Friel onto the international stage.
Plot
''Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' centres around Gareth ...
'' (1964), ''Faith Healer
Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...
'' (1979) and ''Dancing at Lughnasa
''Dancing at Lughnasa'' is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in County Donegal in Ulster in the north of Ireland in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Eva ...
'' (1990); Tom Murphy's ''A Whistle in the Dark
''A Whistle in the Dark'' is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered on September 11, 1961 at the Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London, having been rejected by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It then went on to be a West End hit. Murp ...
'' (1961) and ''The Gigli Concert
''The Gigli Concert'' is a play by Irish playwright Tom Murphy premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1983 and widely regarded as his masterpiece.
Plot
''The Gigli Concert'' deals with seven days in the relationship between Dynamatologist ...
'' (1983); and Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiograph ...
's '' Da'' (1973) and ''A Life'' (1980), helped raise the Abbey's international profile through successful runs in the West End in London, and on Broadway in New York City.
Challenges in the 2000s
In December 2004 the theatre celebrated its centenary with events that included performances of the original programme by amateur dramatic groups and a production of Michael West's ''Dublin By Lamplight'', originally staged by Annie Ryan for The Corn Exchange
A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchange. Such trade was common in towns ...
company at the Project Arts Centre
Project Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary arts centre based in Temple Bar, Dublin, which hosts visual arts, theatre, dance, music, and performance.
History
Project Arts Centre was founded by Jim FitzGerald and Colm O'Briain in 1967 after a thr ...
in November 2004. Despite the centenary, not all was well: audience numbers were falling, the Peacock was closed for lack of money, the theatre was near bankruptcy, and the staff felt the threat of huge lay-offs.
In September 2004 two members of the theatre's advisory council, playwrights Jimmy Murphy and Ulick O'Connor
Ulick O'Connor (; ; 12 October 1928 – 7 October 2019) was an Irish literature, Irish writer, historian and critic.
Early life
Born in Rathgar, County Dublin, in 1928 to Matthew O'Connor, the Dean of the Royal College of Surgeons, O'Connor a ...
, tabled a "motion of no confidence" in Artistic Director Ben Barnes, and criticised him for touring with a play in Australia during the deep financial and artistic crisis at home. Barnes returned and temporarily held his position. The debacle put the Abbey under great public scrutiny. On 12 May 2005, Barnes and managing director Brian Jackson resigned after it was found that the theatre's deficit of €1.85 million had been underestimated. The new director, Fiach Mac Conghail
Fiach Mac Conghail (born 4 August 1964) is CEO of the Digital Hub Development Agency. He is a former Director of the Abbey Theatre from 2005 to 2016. He is a former Senator from 2011 to 2016 and was appointed by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
Early ...
, due to start in January 2006, took over in May 2005.[Lavery, Brian.]
The Abbey Theater's Fiach Mac Conghail Takes a Cue From Yeats"
, ''New York Times'', 25 March 2006. Retrieved 23 January 2007.
Reestablishment
On 20 August 2005, the Abbey Theatre's Advisory Council approved a plan to dissolve the Abbey's owner, the National Theatre Society, and replace it with a company limited by guarantee
In British, Australian, Bermudian, Hong Kong and Irish company law (and previously New Zealand), a company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of corporation used primarily (but not exclusively) for non-profit organisations that require legal pe ...
, the Abbey Theatre Limited. After strong debate, the board accepted the program. Basing its actions on this plan, the Arts Council of Ireland awarded the Abbey €25.7 million in January 2006 to be spread over three years. The grant represented an approximate 43 per cent increase in the Abbey's revenues and was the largest ever awarded by the Arts Council. The new company was established on 1 February 2006, with the announcement of a new Abbey Board chaired by High Court Judge Bryan McMahon. In March 2007 the larger auditorium in the theatre was radically reconfigured by Jean-Guy Lecat as part of a major upgrade of the theatre.
In 2009, the Literary Department announced the pilot of a new development initiative, the ''New Playwrights Programme''. The six writers who took part in this pilot programme were Aidan Harney, Lisa Keogh, Shona McCarthy, Jody O'Neill, Neil Sharpson and Lisa Tierney-Keogh.
More than 30 writers were commissioned by the Abbey after Mac Conghail was appointed director in May 2005, and the Abbey produced new plays by Tom Murphy, Richard Dormer, Gary Duggan, Billy Roche, Bernard Farrell and Owen McCafferty. The Abbey also developed a relationship with the Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...
in New York, where it has presented two new plays: ''Terminus'' by Mark O'Rowe
Mark O'Rowe is an Irish playwright and screenwriter.
Life
Mark O'Rowe was born in 1970 in Dublin, Ireland, to parents Hugh and Patricia O'Rowe (to whom he dedicated his 1999 play, ''Howie the Rookie''). He grew up in Tallaght, a working class su ...
and Sam Shepard
Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...
's ''Kicking a Dead Horse
''Kicking a Dead Horse'' (2007) is an American play written by Sam Shepard. It is an example of a dramatic monologue for one man for most of the play, until a woman shows up, in all lasting approximately 80 minutes.
Plot summary
Hobart Struther' ...
''. The Abbey also made a historic move in 2009/10 by producing four consecutive new plays by women writers: ''B for Baby'' by Carmel Winter, ''No Romance'' by Nancy Harris, ''Perve'' by Stacey Gregg and ''16 Possible Glimpses'' by Marina Carr
Marina Carr is an Irish playwright who has written almost thirty plays, including '' By the Bog of Cats'' (1998).
Early life and education
Carr was born in Dublin, Ireland, but spent the majority of her childhood in Pallas Lake, County O ...
.
The Abbey ran a special programme, ''Waking the Nation'', to commemorate the Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirà Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
of 1916. Some controversy arose over the fact that of ten productions, only one, a monologue for children, was by a female playwright.
Co-directors and new building plans
In 2016, the Abbey's direction passed to two co-directors on five-year contracts. Neil Murray from Wales and Graham McLaren from Scotland pursued policies involving significant touring, a wider selection of plays including shorter runs, reduced reliance on Abbey stalwarts such as ''The Plough and the Stars
''The Plough and the Stars'' is a four-act Play (theatre), play by the Irish writer Seán O'Casey that was first performed on 8 February 1926 at the Abbey Theatre. It is set in Dublin and addresses the 1916 Easter Rising. The play's title refe ...
'' (57 productions in the theatre's history), free previews, and an emphasis on diversity. They also pursued the project to renew the theatre building, with McLaren describing the current structure as "the worst theatre building I have ever worked in ... Stalinesque ... a terrible, terrible design".
After discussions about new locations in the Docklands, on O'Connell Street and elsewhere, it was decided to redevelop the Abbey in-situ. Hence, in September 2012, the Abbey Theatre purchased 15-17 Eden Quay, and in 2016, 22-23 Eden Quay. With a budget of up to 80 million euro mentioned, including capital funding from central government, the plan is to remove the existing building and build on the combined site, creating two new theatre spaces, of 700 and 250 seats, along with a restaurant, modern rehearsal spaces, and new offices. The new theatre would open on to the Liffey quays. As of January 2020, construction has not yet commenced.
In February 2021, after open competition, two new co-directors were appointed, Caitriona McLaughlin as Artistic Director and Mark O'Brien as Executive Director.
References
Bibliography
* Fitz-Simon, Christopher. ''The Abbey Theatre—Ireland's National Theatre: The First 100 Years''. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
* Foster, R. F. ''W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. II: The Arch-Poet 1915–1939''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. .
* Frazier, Adrian. ''Behind the Scenes: Yeats, Horniman, and the Struggle for the Abbey Theatre''. Berkeley: University of California, March 1990.
* Gregory, Lady Augusta. ''Our Irish Theatre''. New York and London: Knickerbocker Press, 1913.
* Grene, Nicholas. ''The Politics of Irish Drama: Plays in Context from Boucicault to Friel''. Cambridge University Press, February 1999.
* Hogan, Robert, and Richard Burnham. ''Modern Irish Drama: A Documentary History. Vols. I-VI.''.
* Hunt, Hugh. ''The Abbey: Ireland's National Theater, 1904–1979''. New York: Columbia University Press, October 1979.
* Igoe, Vivien. ''A Literary Guide to Dublin''. Methuen, April 1995.
* Kavanagh, Peter. ''The Story of the Abbey Theatre''. New York: Devin-Adair, 1950.
* Kilroy, James. ''The "Playboy" Riots''. Dublin: Dolmen Pres, 1971. ASIN: B000LNLIXO
* McGlone, James P. ''Ria Mooney
Ria Mooney (1903 – 3 January 1973) was an Irish stage and screen actress, artistic director of the Abbey Theatre (1948-1963) and director of the Gaiety School of Acting. She was the first female producer at the Abbey Theatre.
Life
She was ...
: The Life and Times of the Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre''. McFarland and Company, February 2002.
* Robinson, Lennox. ''Ireland's Abbey Theatre''. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1951.
* Ryan, Philip B. ''The Lost Theatres of Dublin''. The Badger Press, September 1998.
* Welch, Robert. ''The Abbey Theatre, 1899–1999: Form and Pressure''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, February 1999.
External links
*
*
The Abbey and the genius of Irish theatre
€”''Guardian Unlimited''.
€”RTÉ News
€”RTÉ News
€”RTÉ News.
Abbey Theatre Collection
at Southern Illinois University Carbondale Special Collections Research Center
Abbey Theatre Collection
at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Abbey Theatre Collection
at the John J. Burns Library, Boston College
Abbey Theatre Dublin at Google Cultural Institute
{{Authority control
Irish literature
National theatres
Theatres in Dublin (city)
Abbey Street