The Abbey Theatre Interviews and Recollections In the same series Morton N. Cohen LEWIS CARROLL: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS Philip Collins (editor) DICKENS: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS (2 volumes) THACKERAY: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS (2 volumes) J. R. Hammond (editor) H. G. WELLS: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS David McLellan (editor) KARL MARX: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS E. H. Mikhail (editor) BRENDAN BEHAN: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS (2 volumes) LADY GREGORY: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS OSCAR WILDE: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS (2 volumes) W. B. YEATS: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS (2 volumes) Harold Orel (editor) KIPLING: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS (2 volumes) Norman Page (editor) BYRON: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS HENRY JAMES: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS D. H. LAWRENCE: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS (2 volumes) TENNYSON: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS. DRJOHNSON: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS R. C. Terry (editor) TROLLOPE: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS Series Standina Order If you would like to receive future titles in this series as they are published, you can make use of our standing order facility. To place a standing order please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address and the name of the series. Please state with which title you wish to begin your standing order. (If you live outside the UK we may not have the rights for your area, in which case we will forward your order to the publisher concerned.) Standing Order Service, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG212XS, England. THE ABBEY THEATRE Interviews and Recollections Edited by E. H. Mikhail Professor of English University of Lethbridge, Alberta M MACMILLAN PRESS Selection and editorial matter© E. H. Mikhail 1988 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988 978-0-333-40724-0 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1988 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Wessex Typesetters (Division of The Eastern Press Ltd) Frome, Somerset British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Mikhail, E. H. The Abbey Theatre: interviews and recollections. -(Macmillan interviews and recollections) I. Abbey Theatre-History I. Title 792'.092'2 PN2602.D82A2 ISBN 978-1-349-08510-1 ISBN 978-1-349-08508-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-08508-8 Contents Acknowledgements vn Introduction XI A Note on the Text xx Chronological Table XXI INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS Irish Drama Arrives James H. Cousins 1 The Irish Literary Theatre George Moore 4 How Our Theatre Began Seumas O'Sullivan 11 HowWeBegantheAbbey W.G.Fay 15 TheNational Theatre Society George Roberts 18 The Irish Theatre Movement: Some Early Memories T. G. Keller 22 The Origin of the Abbey Theatre A. E. F. Horniman 28 New Dublin Theatre Freeman'sJournal 30 A Theatre Was Made Dudley Digges 31 My First Abbey Play Winifred Letts 35 The Irish National Theatre Society Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh 40 The Early Days of the Irish National Theatre P.J. Kelly 48 The Dramatic Movement in Ireland }. M. Synge 54 Early Days of the Irish Theatre Padraic Colum 59 Some Account of the Early Days of the INTS Frank Fay 71 Looking Back on the Abbey May Craig 77 Synge and the Early Days of the Abbey Maire O'Neill 81 The Abbey Theatre Peadar Kearney 83 TheNationa1 Theatre Sara Allgood 87 Recollections of the Abbey Theatre Seaghan Barlow 91 Recollections of the Abbey Theatre Udolphus Wright 97 Irish National Drama W.B. Yeats 98 Aim oflrish Players Fred 0 'Donovan 101 Lady Gregory and the Abbey Theatre John Quinn 104 The Shanachie Casts a Spell Walter Starkie 108 Abbey Theatre Co.: Departure for America Lady Gregory 112 The School of Acting at the Abbey Theatre Nugent Monck 115 Vl CONTENTS The Abbey Theatre: Is It on the Decline? Brinsley MacNamara ll 7 MemoryoftheAbbeyTheatre L.A. G. Strong 121 My Early Days with the Abbey Lennox Robinson 123 My First Visit to the Abbey Austin Clarke 127 Eileen Crowe Tells Her Story Eileen Crowe 130 Great Days at the Abbey Arthur Shields and}. M. Kerrigan 133 TheComingofAgeoftheAbbey George W.Russell 136 The Abbey in Those Days: A Memoir Denis johnston 140 The Abbey Theatre Lord Dunsany 145 Thoughts on the Abbey Theatre Sean O'Faolain 147 Myself and the Abbey Theatre Frank O'Connor 150 Behind the Abbey Scenes Ann Treanor 154 Arthur Shields Remembers the Abbey with Pride Marion Fitzgerald 156 Great Lady ofthelrish Theatre Shelah Richards 158 Meet Mr Blythe 161 Ernest Blythe and the Abbey Tomas MacAnna 167 The Abbey Theatre P. S. O'Hegarty 173 F.J. McCormick Eileen Crowe 179 The Death-watch Beetle Donagh MacDonagh 184 Can the Abbey Theatre Be Restored? Paul Vincent Carroll 188 An Irishman's Diary Quidnunc [Seamus Kelfy] 192 The Abbey Theatre in London Peter Daubeny 195 Abbey Has Been Deteriorating for Years Sean O'Casey 197 TheAbbeyTheatre GerardFay 199 TheNew Abbey Theatre Walter Macken 202 Cyril Cusack Talks Fergus Linehan 205 I Modelled joan on My Mother Siobhtin McKenna 208 The Abbey and the Future Seamus Kel!J, T. P. McKenna, Hilton Edwards,Jim Fitzgerald, Barry Cassin and Tomtis MacAnna 225 Additional Bibliography 226 Index 234 Acknowledgements My gratitude is due to the following for support, encouragement, assistance, information, editorial material or notification of certain items that appear in this book: Professor William A. Armstrong, Mr Seamus de Burca, Dr F. Farag, Mr Edwin Gilcher, Miss Rosemary Howard, Professor David Krause, Dr William Latta, Mr Tomas MacAnna, Professor Mark Roberts, Professor Ann Saddlemyer, Dr Brent Shaw, Professor David Spinks, Dr Brian Tyson, Dr Richard Wall and Mr Michael B. Yeats. The book benefited greatly from the comments and suggestions made by Dr Christopher Murray, from the translations of Gaelic texts into English by Dr Richard Wall, and from the preparation of the final typescript by Mrs Charlene Sawatsky. Several publications have been of immense help to me, particularly those works on the Abbey Theatre or on Irish drama by Hugh Hunt, Lennox Robinson, Robert Hogan, Ann Saddlemyer, Brenna Katz Clarke and A. E. Malone. Thanks are due to the University of Lethbridge for granting me a sabbatical leave to complete this work; and to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for awarding me a Research Grant, without which this book could not have come into existence. It is also a pleasant duty to record my appreciation to the staff of the University of Lethbridge Library; the National Library oflreland; the Royal Irish Academy; the British Library, London; the Newspaper Library, Colindale; and the New York Public Library. The editor and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material: Ganesh and Co., Publishers, Madras, for the extracts from We Two Together by James H. and Margaret E. Cousins; Talbot Press Ltd, for the extracts from The Rose and the Bottle by Seumas O'Sullivan; The Irish Times, for 'The National Theatre Society' by George Roberts; VII Vlll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 'Arthur Shields Remembers the Abbey with Pride' by Marion Fitzgerald; 'An Irishman's Diary' by 'Quidnunc' [Seamus Kelly]; 'Abbey Has Been Deteriorating for Years' by Sean O'Casey; 'Cyril Cusack Talks' by Fergus Linehan; 'Great Days at the Abbey' by Arthur Shields and J. M. Kerrigan; and 'The Abbey Theatre' by P. S. O'Hegarty; The Irish Independent, for 'The Irish Theatre Movement' by T. G. Keller; the Sunday Independent, for· 'The Abbey Theatre: Is It on the Decline?' by Brinsley MacNamara; The Irish Press, for 'My First Abbey Play' by Winifred Letts; 'Looking Back on the Abbey' by May Craig; 'Synge and the Early Days of the Abbey' by Maire O'Neill; 'Behind the Abbey Scenes' by Ann Treanor; and 'The New Abbey Theatre' by Walter Macken; Professor Ann Saddlemyer, for the manuscript 'The Dramatic Movement in Ireland' by J. M. Synge, from her article from Modern Drama, September 1981; The Estate of Padraic Colum and the Public Administrator of the County of New York, for 'Early Days of the Irish Theatre' by Padraic Colum and published originally in the Dublin Magazine, October 1949; Mr Seamus de Burca, for the extracts from his book The Soldier's Song; Sidgwick andjackson Ltd, for the extracts from Ireland's Abbey Theatre by Lennox Robinson; Mr Michael B. Yeats, for 'Irish National Drama', from an interview given by W. B. Yeats in 1910; John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, for the extracts from Scholars and Gypsies by Walter Starkie; The Cork Examiner, for 'Abbey Theatre Co.: Departure for America'; A. D. Peters and Co. Ltd and Methuen London Ltd, for the extracts from Green Memory by L.A. G. Strong; The National Theatre Society Ltd, for the extracts from Three Homes by Lennox Robinson, Tom Robinson and Nora Dorman; Mr R. Dardis Clarke, for 'My First Visit to the Abbey' by Austin Clarke; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS lX Mr Rory Johnston, for 'The Abbey Theatre in Those Days' by Denis Johnston;© Denis Johnston 1980; Curtis Brown Ltd, on behalfofJohn Child Villiers and Valentine Lamb as Literary Executors of Lord Dunsany, for the extracts