The history of Irish theatre begins with the Gaelic Irish tradition. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900 was an Irish Playwright, Novelist, poet and Author of Much of the literature in that Celtic language was destroyed by conquest, except for a few manuscripts and fragments, such as the Book of Fermoy. The scribe who copied this leather book--Adam Ó Cianáin--copied out a dialogue called the The Colloquy Between Fintan and the Hawk of Achill in the 14th century, and the little play is obviously much older. Such texts indicate something like a Gaelic theatrical tradition that was pagan, and not rooted in Passion plays. The Colloquy (conversation) is divided, as in a script, between one character "Fintan" and the hawk, whose dialogue is indicated above his speeches by "an t-én", or "the bird. " The oldest Irish play to survive the Viking and English invasions is probably this Gaelic Irish conversation between a man and a hawk on the island of Achill at the edge of the known world. A source link for the play can be found below.
The history of Irish theatre in the familiar sense begins with the rise of the English administration in Dublin at the start of the 17th century. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Over the next 400 years this small country was to make a disproportionate contribution to drama in English. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States
In the early days of its history, theatrical productions in Ireland tended to serve the political purposes of the administration, but as more theatres opened and the popular audience grew, a more diverse range of entertainments were staged. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Many Dublin-based theatres developed links with their London equivalents and performers and productions from the British capital frequently found their way to the Irish stage. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. However, most Irish playwrights from William Congreve to George Bernard Shaw found it necessary to leave their native island to establish themselves. William Congreve ( 24 January 1670 &ndash 19 January 1729) was an English Playwright and Poet. George Bernard Shaw ( (26 July 1856 &ndash 2 November 1950 was an Irish Playwright.
At the beginning of the 20th century, theatres and theatre companies dedicated to the staging of Irish plays and the development of indigenous writers, directors and performers began to emerge. This allowed many of the most significant Irish dramatists to learn their trade and establish their reputations in Ireland rather than in Great Britain or the United States. A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
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Small beginnings
Although there would appear to have been performances of plays on religious themes in Ireland from as early as the 14th century, the first well-documented instance of a theatrical production in Ireland is a 1601 staging of Gorboduc presented by Lord Mountjoy Lord Deputy of Ireland in the Great Hall in Dublin Castle. Gorboduc, also titled Ferrex and Porrex, was an English play from 1561. Charles Blount (pr blunt) 1st Earl of Devonshire and 8th Baron Mountjoy (1563 &ndash 3 April 1606) served as Lord Deputy The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (Ard-Leifteanant na hÉireann ( Plural: Lords Lieutenant) also known as the Judiciar in the early Mediaeval period Dublin Castle (Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, is a major Irish governmental complex formerly the fortified The play had been written by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton for the 1561/2 Christmas festivities at the Inner Temple in London and appears to have been selected because it was a story of a divided kingdom descending into anarchy that was applicable to the situation in Ireland at the time of the performance. Sir Thomas Sackville 1st Earl of Dorset (1536 &ndash April 19, 1608) was an English Statesman and poet son of Richard Sackville Thomas Norton (1532 &ndash March 10, 1584) was an English lawyer politician writer of verse &mdash but not as has been claimed the chief interrogator The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London which may call members to London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Mountjoy started a fashion, and private performances became quite commonplace in great houses all over Ireland over the following thirty years.
The Court in Kilkenny
In 1642, as a result of the English Civil War, Dublin Royalists were forced to flee the city. The English Civil War (1642-1651 was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I during the English Civil War ( 1642 &ndash 1651 Many of them went to Kilkenny to join a confederacy of Old English and Irish that formed in that city. Kilkenny, ( is a city and county town of County Kilkenny in Ireland. Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649 Kilkenny had a tradition of dramatic performance going back to 1366, and the Dublin company, much attenuated, set up in their new home. At least one new play was published in Kilkenny; A Tragedy of Cola's Fury, OR, Lirenda's Misery, a blatantly political work with the Lirenda of the title being an anagram of Ireland.
With the restoration of the monarchy in 1661, John Ogilby was commissioned to design the triumphal arches and write masques for the new king's entrance into London. John Ogilby (November 1600 &ndash September 4, 1676) was a Scottish Translator, Impresario and Cartographer. The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in sixteenth and early seventeenth century Europe though it was developed earlier in Italy Ogilby was reinstated as Master of the Revels and returned to Dublin to open a new theatre in Smock Alley. Although starting well, this new theatre was essentially under the control of the administration in Dublin castle and staged mainly pro-Stuart works and Shakespearean classics. As a result, Irish playwrights and actors of real talent were drawn to London.
The Restoration
An early example of this trend is William Congreve, one of the most important writers for the late 18th London stage. Although born in Yorkshire, Congreve grew up in Ireland and studied with Jonathan Swift in Kilkenny and at Trinity College, Dublin. Yorkshire is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 Trinity College Dublin ( TCD; Irish Coláiste na Tríonóide Baile Átha Cliath; Latin: Collegium Sacrosanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae After graduating, Congreve moved to London to study law at the Temple and pursue a literary career. His first play, The Old Bachelor (1693) was sponsored by John Dryden, and he went on to write at least four more plays. John Dryden (– was an influential English poet Literary critic, Translator and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England The last of these, The Way of the World (1700) is the one Congreve work regularly revived on the modern stage. However, at the time of its creation, it was a relative failure and he wrote no further works for the theatre.
With the accession to the throne of William of Orange, the whole ethos of Dublin Castle, including its attitude to the theatre, changed. William III or William of Orange (14 November 1650 &ndash 8 March 1702 He is informally known in Northern Ireland and Scotland as "King Billy" Smock Alley stayed in existence until 1811 and new theatres, such as the Theatre Royal, Queens' Theatre, and The Gaiety Theatre opened during the 19th century. However, the one constant for the next 200 years was that the main action in the history of Irish theatre happened outside Ireland itself, mainly in London.
The 18th century
The 18th century saw the emergence of two major Irish dramatists, Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who were two of the most successful playwrights on the London stage in the 18th century. Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1730 or 1728 &ndash 4 April 1774 was an Anglo-Irish writer poet and Physician known for his Novel The Vicar Richard Brinsley Sheridan (30 October 1751 &ndash 7 July 1816 was an Irish playwright and Whig Statesman. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Goldsmith (1728–1774) was born in Roscommon and grew up in extremely rural surroundings. Roscommon (Ros Comáin is the county seat of County Roscommon in Ireland. He entered Trinity College in 1745 and graduated in 1749. He returned to the family home, and in 1751, began to travel, finally settling in London in 1756, where he published poetry, prose and two plays, The Good-Natur'd Man 1768 and She Stoops to Conquer 1773. She Stoops to Conquer is a Comedy by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith, son of an Anglo-Irish vicar first performed in London in 1773 This latter was a huge success and is still regularly revived.
Sheridan (1751–1816) was born in Dublin into a family with a strong literary and theatrical tradition. His mother was a writer and his father was manager of Smock Alley Theatre. The family moved to England in the 1750s, and Sheridan attended Harrow Public School. His first play, The Rivals 1775, was performed at Covent Garden and was an instant success. Covent Garden (Pronunciation kɒvʌnt is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest He went on to become the most significant London playwright of the late 18th century with plays like The School for Scandal and The Critic. He was owner of the Drury Lane Theatre, which he bought from David Garrick. Drury Lane is a street in the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. David Garrick (born 19 February 1717 in Hereford &ndash 20 January 1779) was an English Actor, Playwright, The theatre burned down in 1809, and Sheridan lived out the rest of his life in reduced circumstances. He is buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. Poets’ Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey due to the number of Poets Playwrights and The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a large mainly Gothic church
The 19th century
After Sheridan, the next Irish dramatist of historical importance was Dion Boucicault (1820–1890). Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot (born December 26, circa 1820 &ndash died September 18, 1890) was an Irish Actor and Playwright Boucicault was born in Dublin but went to England to complete his education. At school, he began writing dramatic sketches and soon took up acting under the stage name of Lee Moreton. His first play was Legend of Devil's Dyke 1838 in which he acted himself in Brighton. Brighton ( is a town on the south coast of England and with its neighbour Hove, forms the city of Brighton and Hove. His first London production was London Assurance 1841. This was a great success and he seemed set to become the major writer of comedies of his day. However, his next few plays were not as successful and Boucicault found himself in debt. He recovered some of his reputation with The Corsican Brothers (1852), a well constructed melodrama.
In 1853, he moved to New York, where he soon became a hit with plays like The Poor of New York (1857), Dot (1859, based on Charles Dickens's The Cricket on the Hearth) and The Octoroon (1859). New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The Cricket on the Hearth is a novella by Charles Dickens, written in 1845. The Octoroon is a play by Dion Boucicault, which opened in 1859 at The Winter Garden Theatre. These plays tackled issues such as urban poverty and slavery. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another Boucicault was also involved in getting the 1856 law on copyright passed through Congress. Copyright is a legal concept enacted by Governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship Exclusive rights to control its distribution usually for The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses His last New York play was The Colleen Bawn (1860). In that year, Boucicault returned to London to stage The Colleen Bawn and the play ran for 247 performances at The Adelphi Theatre. He wrote several more successful plays, including The Shaughran (1875) and Robert Emmet (1884). Robert Emmet, Roibéard Eiméid ( 4 March 1778 &ndash 20 September 1803) was an Irish nationalist rebel leader These later plays helped perpetuate the stereotype of the drunken, hotheaded, garrulous Irishman that had been common on the British stage since the time of Shakespeare. Other Irish dramatists of the period include John Banim and Gerald Griffin, whose novel The Collegians formed the basis for The Colleen Bawn. John Banim ( April 3, 1798 - August 30, 1842) Irish Novelist, sometimes called the "Scott of Ireland" was born This article is about the Irish Author Gerald Griffin For the American Author, Educator and Professor, see
Boucicault is widely regarded as the wittiest Irish dramatist between Sheridan and Oscar Wilde (1845–1900). Wit is a form of intellectual Humour. A wit (person is someone skilled in making witty remarks Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900 was an Irish Playwright, Novelist, poet and Author of Wilde was born in Dublin into a literary family and studied at Trinity College, where he had a brilliant career. In 1874 he won a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. Magdalen College redirects here see also Magdalene College Cambridge Magdalen College (ˈmɔːdlɨn "maudlin" is one of the constituent Here he began his career as a writer, winning the Newdigate Prize for his poem Ravenna. Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate who has been admitted to Oxford His studies were cut short during his second year at Oxford when his father died leaving large debts.
During a short but glittering literary career, Wilde wrote poetry, short stories, criticism and a novel, but his plays probably represent his most enduring legacy. Wilde's first stage success came with Lady Windemere's Fan (1892), which resulted in his becoming the most talked about dramatist in London. He followed this up with A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and his most famous play The Importance of Being Earnest that same year.
With these plays, Wilde came to dominate late-Victorian era British theatre. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities His plays are noted for the lightness of their wit, but he also contrived to address some serious issues around sexual and class roles and identity, as he wrote himself 'treating the serious things lightly and the light things seriously'. Events in Wilde's personal life were to overtake his literary success and he died in Paris in 1900. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city He remains one of the great figures in the history of Irish theatre and his plays are frequently performed all over the English-speaking world.
Wilde's contemporary George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was a very different kind of writer. George Bernard Shaw ( (26 July 1856 &ndash 2 November 1950 was an Irish Playwright. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876 intending to become a novelist. Here he became active in socialist politics and became a member of the Fabian Society. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution The Fabian Society is a British Intellectual Socialist movement whose purpose is to advance the principles of Social democracy via Gradualist He was also a very public vegetarian. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes Meat (including game and slaughter by-products Fish (including Shellfish and other sea His writing for the stage was influenced by Henrik Ibsen. "Ibsen" redirects here For other people named Ibsen see Ibsen (disambiguation. His early political plays were not popular, but he made a breakthrough with John Bull's Other Island (1904). Shaw was extremely prolific, and his collected writings filled 36 volumes. Many of his plays are now forgotten, but a number, including Major Barbara, Saint Joan (usually considered his masterpiece) and Pygmalion are still regularly performed. Pygmalion was the basis for the movie My Fair Lady, a fact which benefitted the National Gallery of Ireland as Shaw had left the royalties of the play to the gallery. The National Gallery of Ireland (Ghailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann houses the Irish national collection of Irish and European art. A statue to the playwright now stands outside the gallery entrance. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1924. The Nobel Prize in Literature (Nobelpriset i litteratur is awarded annually since 1901 to an author from any country who has in the words from the will of Alfred
The Abbey and after
A sea change in the history of the Irish theatre came with the establishment in Dublin in 1899 of the Irish Literary Theatre, later to become the Abbey Theatre. The Abbey Theatre (Amharclann na Mainistreach also known as the National Theatre of Ireland (Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann is a Theatre located in Dublin The history of this theatre is well documented, and its importance can be seen from the list of writers whose plays were first performed here in the early days of the 20th century. These included W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, John Millington Synge, George Moore, and Sean O'Casey. Isabella Augusta Lady Gregory (15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932 née Isabella Augusta Persse, was an Irish Dramatist and folklorist. Edmund John Millington Synge ( (16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909 was an Irish Playwright, Poet, Prose writer and collector of Folklore. George Moore may refer to George Moore (American Radio Presenter George Edward Moore (1873&ndash1958 G Seán O'Casey ( Irish Seán Ó Cathasaigh (30 March 1880 &ndash 18 September 1964 was a major Irish dramatist and Memoirist A committed irish Equally importantly, through the introduction by Yeats, via Ezra Pound, of elements of the Noh theatre of Japan, a tendency to mythologise quotidian situations, and a particularly strong focus on writings in dialects of Hiberno-English, the Abbey was to create a style that held a strong fascination for future Irish dramatists. Ezra Weston Loomis Pound ( Hailey, Idaho Territory, United States October 30 1885 – Venice, Italy November 1 1972 was an American Expatriate or is a major form of classic Japanese musical Drama that has been performed since the 14th century For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Indeed, it could almost be said that the Abbey created the basic elements of a national theatrical style.
This period also saw a rise in the writing of plays in Irish, especially after the formation, in 1928, of An Taidhbhearc, a theatre dedicated to the Irish language. The Gate Theatre, also founded in 1928 under the direction of Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammoir, introduced Irish audiences to many of the classics of the European stage. The Gate Theatre, in Dublin, was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammoir, initially using the Abbey Theatre 's Peacock studio Hilton Edwards ( February 2, 1903 &ndash November 18, 1982) was an Irish Actor and theatrical producer Micheál MacLíammóir (born Alfred Willmore) ( October 25, 1899 &ndash March 6, 1978) was an Irish Actor,
Mid 20th century
The twentieth century saw a number of Irish playwrights come to prominence. Samuel Beckett is probably the most significant of these. Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989 was an Irish Writer, Dramatist and poet Beckett had a long career as a novelist and poet before his first play, Waiting for Godot (1953) made him famous. Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters wait for someone named Godot who never arrives This play, along with his second, Endgame, is one of the great works of absurdist theatre. Endgame by Samuel Beckett, is a one-act play with four characters Absurdism is a Philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find meaning in the Universe ultimately fail (and hence are absurd because no such Beckett was awarded for the Nobel Prize in 1969.
The Lyric Theatre, founded in 1944 by Austin Clarke was based in the Abbey until 1951 and produced many of Clarke's own verse plays. The Lyric Theatre grew out of Austin Clarke's Dublin Verse Speaking Society Austin Ardinel Chesterfield Clarke CM, OOnt (born 26 July 1934) is a Canadian Novelist, Essayist and Verse drama is any Drama written as verse to be spoken another possible general term is poetic drama. From the mid 1950s, the Unitarian Church at St Stephen's Green, Dublin was home to Amharclann an Damer/The Damer Theatre. Unitarianism as a theology is the belief in the single personality of God in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity (three persons in one God The Damer produced both professional and amateur Irish language theatre. The world premier of Brendan Behan's An Giall (The Hostage) took place here in 1957. Brendan Francis Behan (ˈbiːən) (Breandán Ó Beacháin ( February 9, 1923 – March 20, 1964) was an Irish poet short story The theatre closed in the late 1970s. Behan went on to be an extremely popular dramatist, particularly through his work with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal in Stratford, East London. Joan Maud Littlewood ( 6 October, 1914 - 20 September, 2002) was a British theatrical director famous for her work in developing the left-wing The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a Theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham.
Other important Irish dramatists of this period include: Denis Johnston, Thomas Kilroy, Tom Murphy, Hugh Leonard, Frank McGuinness,and John B. Keane. (William Denis Johnston ( June 18, 1901 – August 8, 1984) was an Irish Writer. Thomas F Kilroy (1934 -) the Irish playwright and novelist was born on 23rd September 1934 in Green Street Callan, County Kilkenny and studied at University Tom Murphy (born 1935 is an Irish Dramatist who has worked closely with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Hugh Leonard (born John Keyes Byrne in 1926 and known to his friends as "Jack" is an Irish Dramatist and Journalist. Frank McGuinness (born 29 July 1953 in County Donegal, Ireland) is an award-winning Irish Playwright, translator and John Brendan Keane ( July 21 1928 &ndash May 30 2002) was an Irish Playwright, Novelist and Essayist
Recent developments
In general, the Abbey was the dominant influence in theatre in Ireland across the 20th century. Beckett's example has been almost entirely ignored, although his plays are regularly performed on the Irish stage. Behan, in his use of song and direct address to the audience, was influenced by Bertolt Brecht and Denis Johnston used modernist techniques including found texts and collage, but their works had little impact on the dramatists who came after them. (born; 10 February 1898&ndash14 August 1956 was a German Poet, Playwright, and Theatre director. (William Denis Johnston ( June 18, 1901 – August 8, 1984) was an Irish Writer. Modernism describes an array of Cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Found poetry is created by taking Words Phrases and sometimes whole Passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing A collage (From the coller to glue is a work of formal art primarily in the Visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms thus creating a new whole In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of companies emerged to challenge the Abbey's dominance and introduce different styles and approaches. These included Focus Theatre, The Children's T Company, the Project Theatre Company, Red Kettle, Druid Theatre, TEAM and Field Day. The Focus Theatre in Dublin is a small but respected theatre which offers a variety of plays from new and established writers The Druid Theatre Company, was founded in Galway in 1975 by graduates of the NUIG, Garry Hynes, Marie Mullen and Mick Lally A team comprises a group of people or Animals linked in a common purpose Field Day is an annual Amateur radio exercise widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organizations encouraging emergency communications preparedness These companies nurtured a number of writers, actors, and directors who went on to be successful in London, Broadway and Hollywood or in other literary fields. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located These include Joe O Byrne, Peter Sheridan, Brian Friel, Stephen Rea, Garry Hynes, Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson and Gabriel Byrne. Peter Sheridan (born 1952) is an Irish playwright screenwriter and director Brian Friel (born 9 January 1929) is a playwright and more recently director of his own works from Northern Ireland who now resides in County Donegal Stephen Rea (born Graham Rea on October 31, 1946) is an Irish Actor, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his Garry Hynes (born June 10 1953 is an Irish Theatre director. Hynes was born in Ballaghadereen Roscommon County and educated at St Martin McDonagh (born 26 March 1970 is a contemporary Irish playwright and Film director. Conor McPherson (born August 6, 1971) is an Irish Playwright and director. Gabriel James Byrne ( Irish: Gabriel Séamas Ó Broin; born 12 May, 1950) is an Emmy - and Tony -nominated Irish
In the 1990s and 2000s a new wave of theatre companies arrived. These include: Bedrock, Blue Raincoat, B*spoke, The Corn Exchange, Corcadorca, Fishamble, Pan Pan, Playgroup, Raw and Rough Magic.
References
- For the text in Gaelic Irish of the Colloquy of Fintan and the Hawk, http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G109001/index.html
- Christopher Morash: A History of Irish Theatre 1601–2000
- The Abbey Theatre
- Beckett
- Boucicault
- The Gaiety Theatre
- The Gate Theatre
- Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity College
- Irish Writers Online
- An Taidhbhearc
- Shaw
- Wilde
- The Irish Playography
- The Irish Theatre Handbook
See also
- Irish literature
- List of Irish dramatists
- List of Irish theatres and theatre companies
- Irish fiction
- Irish poetry
- List of Irish poets
Further reading
- George Moore: Hail and Farewell(gossipy memoir of the early days of the Abbey Theatre)
- James Moran: Staging the Easter Rising: 1916 as Theatre
- Anthony Roche: Contemporary Irish Drama—from Beckett to McGuinness
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