Critical Introductions to Pioneering Works of Social Realism from the Early Abbey Theatre
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UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2008 Critical introductions to pioneering works of social realism from the early Abbey Theatre John C Kerrigan University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Kerrigan, John C, "Critical introductions to pioneering works of social realism from the early Abbey Theatre" (2008). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 2450. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/ufnq-hjzo This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. 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CRITICAL INTRODUCTIONS TO PIONEERING WORKS OF SOCIAL REALISM FROM THE EARLY ABBEY TEIEATRE by John C- Kerrigan Bachelor of Arts Dickinsonison CCollege 1993 Master of Arts University of Nevada, Las Vegas 1995 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree Department of English College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2001 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 3016209 Copyright 2001 by Kerrigan, John 0. All rights reserved. UMI UMI Microform 3016209 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright by John C. Kerrigan 2001 AU Rinhts Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dissertation Approval UNIV The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas April 18 ^2001 The Dissertation prepared by John C. Kerrigan Entitled Critical Introductions to Pioneering Works of Social Realism From the Early Abbey Theatre is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Examination Committee Chai Dean of the Graduate College 7 Examination Committee MeiÆer Exgaùfiation Committee Member ^ Graduate College Faculty Representative PR/1017-52/1.00 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Critical Introductions to Pioneering Works of Social Realism from the Early Abbey Theatre by John C. Kerrigan Dr. Richard Harp, Examination Committee Chair Professor of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas This dissertation presents a critical study of five dramatic works first performed at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in the early twentieth century. The plays considered here have often been called masterpieces by critics, yet they have received little serious scholarly attention and today are forgotten relics of the Abbey’s past. Nonetheless, these plays— Padraic Colum’s Thomas Muskerry (1910), St. John Ervine’sJohn Ferguson (1915), T. C. M urray’s Autumn Fire (1924), Lennox Robinson’sThe Big House (1926), and Teresa Deevy’s Katie Roche (1936)—formed a backbone for the fledgling national theater. They were successful because they attracted and engaged their audiences, but furthermore they challenged conventional notions (sometimes creating alternate notions) of gender, class, nationality, and social status. As serious dramatic works, these plays represented probably the most successful achievement of Yeats’s vision for the theater as “a mirror showing the nation a tme image of its mind and features.” Thus, the plays helped to “invent Ireland” (in the words of Declan Kiberd’s important study of Irish literature), and they contributed significantly to the Abbey’s establishment as one of the world’s great repertory theaters. This dissertation, then, redresses critical neglect of the five plays in an attempt to initiate deeper ways of understanding and interpreting them through social, political, and economic contexts, textual backgrounds, and critical, publication, and stage histories. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................in ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................... v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER n THOMAS MUSKERRY................................................................................ 28 CHAPTER m JOHN FERGUSON.....................................................................................56 CHAPTER IV AUTUMN FIRE ............................................................................................77 CHAPTER V THE BIG H O U SE........................................................................................101 CHAPTER VI KATIE ROCHE ...........................................................................................125 APPENDIX I NOTES..........................................................................................................145 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................167 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Richard Harp, my advisor and mentor, contributed to this dissertation in manifold ways, from beginning to end; for his continued support for and encouragement of my work, I am most grateful. As well, I recognize that the other members of my graduate committee have impacted my work in important ways, with Chris Hudgins instigating my study of twentieth century dramatic literature, Beth Rosenberg provoking my interest in postcolonial literatures and theory, and Robert Tracy broadening my understanding of the arts in Ireland. I also owe a debt of gratitude to these UNLV professors, Robert Tracy in particular, for their efforts to focus the attention of the university community in Las Vegas on Ireland’s arts at certain moments in recent years. I would like to extend grateful thanks to many individuals and institutions for their assistance in gathering the manuscript information included herein. Particularly I would like to extend thanks to Jack Deevy, the nephew of Teresa Deevy; Geraldine Carey of the Waterford City Library; Ophelia Byrne, curator of the theatre collection at the Linen Hall Library, Belfast; the interlibrary loan staff at the Dickinson Libraiy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and members of the library staff at the National Library of Ireland, Trinity College, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, the State University of New York at Binghamton, and the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas. Martin Kerrigan, my brother, also assisted me by gathering several materials relevant to this dissertation, and I am grateful for his help. For granting permission to include in this dissertation extracts of several manuscript holdings from the National Library of Ireland, I would like to thank the Council of Trustees, National Library of Ireland. I am greatly obliged to Susan Thompson and the UNLV Office of International