Shadows from the Past: Sean O’Casey and the Abbey

Authors

  • Peter James Harris Universidade Estadual Paulista

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37389/abei.v7i1.184206

Keywords:

Sean O’Casey, Abbey Theatre, The Silver Tassie

Abstract

This article examines the programme of the Abbey Theatre’s Centenary commemorations, “abbeyonehundred”, culminating in the Theatre’s one- hundredth anniversary on 27 December 2004. In particular, the absence of plays by Sean O’Casey is noted from all but a touring programme, which, in his case, occurred after the anniversary itself. It is argued that this may be seen as a belated repercussion of the controversy surrounding the rejection of The Silver Tassie in 1928, and that a significant opportunity was lost by the current directorate of the Abbey Theatre to celebrate the memory of one of the most important Irish dramatists of the twentieth century.

Author Biography

  • Peter James Harris, Universidade Estadual Paulista

    PETER JAMES HARRIS lectures in English Literature and English Culture at the State University of São Paulo (UNESP), in Brazil. Born in London he has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and a PhD in Irish Studies from the University of São Paulo (USP). In 2004 he published Sean O’Casey’s Letters and Autobiographies: Reflections of a Radical Ambivalence (Trier: WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier). He has also published articles on twentieth century Irish playwrights, as well as a paper on Roger Casement’s 1910 Amazon expedition. He is currently researching into the presence of Irish dramatists on the London stage in the period from Independence to the present day.

References

“The Abbey Theatre. An Irish Coming of Age,” The Times 28 December 1925.

Harris, Peter J. Sean O’Casey’s Letters and Autobiographies: Reflections of a Radical Ambivalence. Trier: WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2004.

Kavanagh, Peter The Story of The Abbey theatre from its origins in 1899 to the present. New York: Devin-Adair, 1950.

Kiberd, Declan. Inventing Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation. London: Jonathan Cape,1995.

Krause, David, ed. The Letters of Sean O’Casey, Volume 1: 1910-1941. London: Cassell, 1975.

____, ed. The Letters of Sean O’Casey, Volume 3: 1955-1958. Washington: Catholic University ofAmerica Press, 1989.

Murray, Christopher. Twentieth-Century Irish Drama: Mirror up to Nation. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997.

O’Casey, Sean. Autobiographies 2. London: Macmillan, 1992.

http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/abbey100

Downloads

Published

30-06-2005

Issue

Vol. 7 (2005): ABEI Journal 7

Section

Drama

License

Copyright (c) 2005 Peter James Harris

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Harris, P. J. . (2005). Shadows from the Past: Sean O’Casey and the Abbey. ABEI Journal, 7(1), 51-61. https://doi.org/10.37389/abei.v7i1.184206