Denis Johnstonތs Name Looms Prominent Among Those of Twentieth- Century Irish Playwrights Who Have Determinedly Gone Beyond Realism in Most of Their Work
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DOING JUSTICE TO SWIFT: DENIS JOHNSTONތS SOLUTION IN DIVERSE MODES O1'ěEJ PILNÝ Denis Johnstonތs name looms prominent among those of twentieth- century Irish playwrights who have determinedly gone beyond realism in most of their work. His first play, The Old Lady Says ³No!´ (1929), overtly explored a variety of avant-garde techniques in order to provide a theatrical alternative to the kind of new Irish drama that was being produced by the Abbey Theatre. As the ground-breaking event that it was, it has been discussed by numerous scholars. I would like to turn here to another of Johnstonތs remarkable experiments, albeit one of a somewhat different nature and with an extended history: his fascinated exploration of the life of Jonathan Swift. The pursuit was spread over an outstandingly long period indeed. Johnston claimed that it was a 1935 Gate Theatre production of Lord Longfordތs play Yahoo that triggered his curiosity concerning, in particular, Swiftތs relationship with Esther Johnson (³Stella´) and Esther Vanhomrigh (³Vanessa´).1 Over the next two decades, Johnston maintained the ³fascinating pastime´2 of investigating the circumstances of the Deanތs life in various libraries and archives, and subsequently working on how to embody his findings in dramatic form. Moreover, he did not hesitate to publicize the results of his explorations as a scholarly contribution. The resulting list of accomplished dramatic works for various media, complemented with an academic article, a full biographical volume, a host of adaptations and other minor texts is impressive. Regrettably, it is fair to claim that only the second version of the stage play The Dreaming Dust is bound to be familiar to those other than Johnston specialists. 1 Denis Johnston, ³The Mysterious Origin of Dean Swift´, Dublin Historical Record, III/4 (June-August 1941), 81. 2 Denis Johnston, ³Introduction´, in The Golden Cuckoo and Other Plays, London: Jonathan Cape, 1954, 14. 78 2QGĜHM3LOQê Johnstonތs first period of serious research on Swift in 1937-38 produced an original meta-drama entitled ³Weep for Polyphemus´,3 which was broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland radio in 1938 and 1939 under his supervision, starring Hilton Edwards as Swift.4 The successful radio play was followed in 1940 by a production of the first version of The Dreaming Dust at the Gate Theatre (directed by Micheál Mac Liammóir and again starring Hilton Edwards, with a cast of twenty-four and a crowd). In 1941, Johnston spoke to the Old Dublin Society about how Swiftތs parentage had influenced his personal life; the paper was published forthwith in the Dublin Historical Record. A television play, Weep for the Cyclops, was broadcast in 1947 (BBC London), having been preceded in 1946 by a stage version of the same title produced at the Bristol Old Vic.5 Four years after Johnston had accepted his first academic job in the United States, a revised version of The Dreaming Dust for a cast of eight and featuring role-doubling was premiered at the Provincetown Playhouse on Cape Cod (1954); the Gate Theatre produced the same text in 1959.6 3 The correspondence preserved at Trinity College Dublin includes up to 60 letters to Johnston from various individuals and institutions from the period June 1937-June 1938. There are dozens more letters received or written over the 1940s, ތ50s and ތ60s, and several from the mid- to late 1970s. I acknowledge with gratitude the permission of Rory Johnston and the Board of Trinity College Dublin to refer to and quote from the Denis Johnston papers lodged at TCD. 4 See Johnstonތs 1954 ³Introduction´, in The Golden Cuckoo, 13, where he mentions working on the programme ³a few [sic] years ago´. In 1938 or 1939, Johnston also started making notes for a ten-part series of broadcasts on Swift, a project that he later abandoned. For an outline of the series and notes, see TCD MS 10066/40/1. 5 I am grateful to Rory Johnston for pointing out the Bristol production to me, and rectifying some of my errors in the manuscript of this essay. 6 The catalogue of the Gate Theatre Archive at Northwestern University gives September 1959. Luke cites 1955 as the year of production (Enter Certain Players: Edwards, MacLiammóir and the Gate, 1928-1978, ed. Peter Luke, Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1978, 97), most likely in error. The typescript/production copy of the first stage version of The Dreaming Dust reveals it to be a much inferior play to its later revision: the first half in particular is overburdened with biographical and historical information that is conveyed largely through the character of Charles Ford, while the private conversations in turn suffer from being too explicit. The large number of last- minute revisions in Johnstonތs hand and the various alterations and cuts pencilled in by the director, Micheál Mac Liammóir, testify to their respective awareness of the deficiencies. As regards its structure, the play alternates scenes cast in the mode of the comedy of manners and naturalist theatre with interludes acted out on the forestage in front of a closed curtain, and does not yet use the morality play characters of the final .