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The Playboy before the Riots
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2009
Extract
Was the Abbey Theatre company partly responsible for the original Playboy riots? Synge's comedy would have shocked Irish patriotism and propriety under any circumstances, but did the author and Frank and William Fay provide fuel for the flames by the manner in which they produced the work? The reaction of Dublin has been readily dismissed as mere philistinism, but without any attempt to assess how much the audience was provoked. Yet one thing is clear: the first night audience of Saturday, 26 January 1907, did not come to riot. On the contrary, they gave the play a fair critical hearing, and all accounts are agreed that vocal protest (far short of a riot) did not break out until late in the evening. It is also known that after the death of Synge and the departure of the Fays, the interpretation of the play was radically revised to make the production more palatable. It is reasonable to enquire, therefore, what the company originally had in mind.
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- Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 1975
References
Notes
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