''The White Steed'' is a play in three acts written in 1939 by

Paul Vincent Carroll Paul Vincent Carroll (10 July 1900 – 20 October 1968) was an Irish dramatist and writer of movie scenarios and television scripts. Carroll was born in Blackrock, County Louth, Ireland and trained as a teacher at St Patrick's College, Dublin ...

. It won the 1939

New York Drama Critics' Circle The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 22 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization is best known for its annual awards for excellence in theater.Jone ...

award for Best Foreign Play.

Setting

The setting of the play is the present-day village of Lorcan,

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Original cast

The show was performed at the

Cort Theatre The James Earl Jones Theatre, originally the Cort Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 138 West 48th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was built in ...

and then moved to the

John Golden Theatre The John Golden Theatre, formerly the Theatre Masque and Masque Theater, is a Broadway theater at 252 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the Golden Theatre was de ...

. It ran all together for 136 performances. It was staged by

Hugh Hunt Hugh Hunt (March 8, 1902 – September 1, 1988) was an American set decorator. He won two Academy Awards and was nominated for eleven more in the category Best Art Direction. Selected filmography Hunt won two Academy Awards for Best Art Di ...

, scenic design by Watson Barratt, general manager was Saul Abraham, and produced by

Eddie Dowling Eddie Dowling (born Joseph Nelson Goucher; December 11, 1889Date and year of birth as per baptismal records of Precious Blood church, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where Dowling was christened — February 18, 1976) was an American actor, director, ...

. * Florence Barratt as Meg Megee * Leslie Bingham as Rosieanne *

Roland Bottomley Roland Bottomley (1880-1947) was a British born American stage and film actor from Liverpool, England. Some sources have him born in 1878 and others in 1879.''American and British Theatrical Biography'', p.125 c.1979 by J. P. Wearing .. He came to ...

as Donnacaidh McGoilla Phadraig *

George Coulouris George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor. Early life Coulouris was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, the son of Abigail (née Redfern) anNicholas Coulouris a merchant of Greek o ...

as Father Shaughnessy *

Ralph Cullinan Ralph Cullinan (born 14 November 1965) is a South African cricketer. He played in sixteen first-class and five List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eig ...

as Phelim Fintry * Thomas P. Dillon as Inspector Toomey * Barry Fitzgerald as Canon Matt Lavelle *

Elizabeth Malone Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

as Brigid Brodigan *

Grace Mills Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

as Sarah Hearty *

Farrell Pelly Farrell (anglicization of the Irish ''Ó Fearghail'') is a surname and may refer to: * Farrell (surname) * Farrell Lines, shipping company (acquired by Maersk) * Farrell, Nevada, an American city * Farrell, Pennsylvania, an American city * Farre ...

as Patrick Hearty *

Liam Redmond Liam Redmond (27 July 1913 – 28 October 1989) was an Irish character actor known for his stage, film and television roles. Early life Redmond was one of four children born to cabinet-maker Thomas and Eileen Redmond. Educated at the Christi ...

as Denis Dillon *

Jessica Tandy Jessie Alice Tandy (7 June 1909 – 11 September 1994) was a British-American actress. Tandy appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and TV, receiving an Academy Award, four Tony Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe ...

as Nora Fintry *

Tom Tully Thomas Kane Tulley (August 21, 1908 – April 27, 1982) was an American actor. He began his career in radio and on the stage before making his film debut in ''Northern Pursuit'' (1943). Subsequently, he was nominated for an Academy Award for hi ...

as Michael Shivers

Later performances

''The White Steed'' was presented on the televised series

Play of the Week Play of the Week may refer to: *''ITV Play of the Week'', British TV anthology series broadcast from 1956 to 1966 *''The Play of the Week'', American TV anthology series broadcast from 1959 to 1961 See also *''Play of the Month ''Play of the M ...

in 1959.

References

At the Internet Broadway Data Base
1939 plays {{1930s-play-stub