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Abbey Theatre

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Abbey Theatre
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Dublin theatre. It developed from the Irish Literary Theatre, founded in 1899 by William Butler Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory to foster Irish drama. After moving the troupe to a renovated theatre on Abbey Street in 1904, they codirected its productions with John Millington Synge, staged their own plays, and commissioned works by Sean O'Casey and others. Important premieres included Synge's The Playboy of the Western World (1907) and O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars (1926). The Abbey became the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world in 1924. A fire destroyed the original playhouse in 1951, and a new theatre was built in 1966.

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British History: Abbey theatre
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First permanent home of the Irish National Theatre, founded in 1904 by Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and W. B. Yeats to foster native drama. Dramatic scenes came four years later with riots at the first night of J. M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World. The original building was destroyed by fire in 1951.

Irish Literature Companion: The Abbey Theatre
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Abbey Theatre, The, (Irish Literary Theatre; later Irish National Theatre), grew out of the literary revival that took place after the death of Parnell in 1891. Irish writers had nothing like the same access to a history of theatrical achievement as those in other European countries. Anglo-Irish dramatists as various as George Farquhar, R. B. Sheridan, Dion Boucicault, and Oscar Wilde had written successfully for the stage, but with London and even American audiences in mind.

The Abbey had its beginnings in the summer of 1897 at Duras House, Kinvara, when W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and Edward Martyn discussed the founding of a theatre for new Irish drama, Martyn acting as guarantor of the Irish Literary Theatre, as Yeats called it. Martyn also persuaded his cousin George Moore to produce the first two plays, performed at the Antient Concert Rooms in Great Brunswick (now Pearse) Street on two successive nights: Yeats's The Countess Cathleen (8 May 1899) and Martyn's The Heather Field (9 May). Before the first night a pamphlet by Frank Hugh O'Donnell, Souls for Gold, had been distributed attacking The Countess Cathleen on the grounds that it showed the Irish people selling their souls. Further allegations of anti-Catholicism from prominent figures including Cardinal Logue aroused sectarian feelings which led to jeering and hissing on 8 May.

In its second season, the Irish Literary Theatre staged Maeve, a two-act drama by Edward Martyn and The Last Feast of the Fianna, by Alice Milligan on 19 February 1900. The Bending of the Bough by Edward Martyn, a realistic full-length play rewritten by Moore, under whose name it appeared, followed on 20 February. The third season, in 1901, featured the three-act Diarmuid and Gráinne, a collaborative effort from Yeats and Moore (with music by Edward Elgar); and Casadh an tSúgáin, written by Douglas Hyde, President of the Gaelic League.

Now William and Frank Fay, amateur actors and Gaelic enthusiasts, approached George Russell, who promised to finish his play Deirdre for them. Yeats gave them Cathleen Ni Houlihan, for staging with Russell's, and these plays were produced by Inghinidhe na hÉireann, Maud Gonne's republican women's group. She played the title role in Cathleen, electrifying the audience in St Teresa's Temperance Hall in 1902. A National Theatre Society was now formed, with Yeats as president, and William Fay as stage-manager.

At the Antient Concert Rooms the Irish National Theatre Society produced The Sleep of the King by James Cousins and The Laying of the Foundations by Ryan (29 October 1902), followed by The Pot of Broth by Yeats, The Racing Lug by Cousins, and Eilís agus an Bhean Déirce by P. T. Mac Fhionnlaoich (30 October). At the invitation of Stephen Gwynn the Society performed in South Kensington, impressing Annie Horniman, Manchester tea heiress, astrologer, and Yeats's friend, who became the Society's patron. In October 1903 J. M. Synge's first produced play, In the Shadow of the Glen, was staged, but it caused disquiet amongst the actors in rehearsal, who thought it a slur on Irish womanhood. Riders to the Sea was staged in January 1904. In 1904 Miss Horniman acquired the Mechanics' Institute Theatre, in Abbey Street, for the Society. The new theatre was called the Abbey, and opened on 27 December with two new plays: Yeats's On Baile's Strand and Lady Gregory's Spreading the News, as well as Cathleen Ni Houlihan and In the Shadow of the Glen. Synge's The Well of the Saints was staged in 1905, followed by Lady Gregory's Kincora, William Boyle's realistic The Building Fund, and Padraic Colum's The Land.

Miss Horniman agreed to make an annual subvention to the Society in order that salaries be paid to William Fay and the actors. In 1905/6 the Company toured in Ireland and Britain, and staged The Eloquent Dempsey by Boyle, a political farce; The Doctor in Spite of Himself, the first of Lady Gregory's translations of Molière into Kiltartanese, her version of the Hiberno-English dialect of Galway; and Yeats's Deirdre. On 27 February 1907 the Abbey produced Synge's The Playboy of the Western World, with Fay playing the lead, the apparent amorality of which caused an uproar. The Country Dressmaker, a first play by George Fitzmaurice, was staged in October. The Fay brothers, angry that Yeats kept all power to himself, Lady Gregory, and Synge, resigned in 1908. In that year a first play by Lennox Robinson (The Clancy Name) was staged.

Synge died in 1909 and the Abbey revived The Playboy to acclaim. In 1910 Lennox Robinson became manager. In his first season he produced Padraic Colum's Thomas Muskerry, followed in the same year by Robinson's own Harvest, R. J. Ray's The Casting Out of Martin Whelan, and T. C. Murray's Birthright, thus inaugurating a new school of realistic drama. When Robinson did not close the theatre on 7 May, the day of Edward VII's death, Miss Horniman withdrew her subsidy. A new patent was granted to the Abbey, despite an attempt by the Theatre of Ireland (a rival group founded in 1906 and headed by Martyn and George Russell) to secure concessionary rights.

An American tour in 1911 caused much protest, the Irish-Americans disliking The Playboy. In 1914 A. Patrick Wilson replaced Robinson as manager, and was followed in 1915 by St John Ervine who produced John Ferguson, a play about Northern Protestantism. In 1916 a number of players saw active service in the Easter Rising, while the Proclamation was printed on the premises. Ervine resigned and J. Augustus Keogh took over. In 1916-17 six of Shaw's plays were staged, including John Bull's Other Island, Arms and the Man, and Man and Superman. In December Robinson's The Whiteheaded Boy was produced.

In 1918 Yeats organized the Dublin Drama League, with himself as president and Robinson as secretary, to promote foreign and European theatre. In 1919 Robinson returned as manager.

Robinson was made a director with Yeats and Lady Gregory. George Shiels, from Ulster, had a play, Insurance Money, performed in 1921, followed by Paul Twyning in 1922. Sean O'Casey's The Shadow of a Gunman was produced in 1923 at the height of the Civil War. After complex negotiations with Ernest Blythe, the Abbey became a subsidized National Theatre in 1924. This year also saw the première of O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock. In 1926, when O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars, was produced, there were violent scenes, Yeats declaiming to the audience that they had disgraced themselves again. O'Casey's next play, The Silver Tassie, was disliked by the directors, who rejected it.

Lady Gregory died in 1932, and in 1935 Yeats decided to expand the board, making F. R. Higgins, Brinsley MacNamara, and Ernest Blythe directors, along with himself, Robinson, and Walter Starkie. When the new board staged The Silver Tassie MacNamara resigned on the grounds that it was blasphemous, and Yeats replaced him with Frank O'Connor. The years after Lady Gregory's death began a bleak phase of the Abbey's history, extending to the 1960s, in which there was an emphasis on ‘PQ’ (‘peasant quality’, a degraded version of Synge's poetic intensity). Good plays, such as Carroll's Shadow and Substance (1937), or M. J. Molloy's The King of Friday's Men (1948), were often badly served by a stereotyped production style.

F. R. Higgins, managing director since 1938, died in 1941, and Blythe succeeded him. In the 1940s theatre in Irish improved, with Tomás Mac Anna staging plays by Mícheál Mac Liammóir and Piaras Béaslaí. A School of Ballet, whose productions were choreographed by Ninette de Valois, ceased production in 1933.

On 18 July 1951 the Abbey burnt down. The company moved to the Queen's Theatre until 18 July 1966 when a new theatre opened on the old site. At the Queen's, the company relied upon the established classics of the Irish theatre and plays by well-known authors. In 1962, however, the Abbey presented Brian Friel's The Enemy Within, and many of his plays have had their first staging there, including The Freedom of the City (1973), Aristocrats (1979), and Dancing at Lughnasa (1990). A new, experimental, tone was set in 1967 with Tomás Mac Anna's production of Brendan Behan's Borstal Boy. Tom Murphy's first play for the Abbey was Famine (1968), and the theatre continued to produce his work with plays such as The Sanctuary Lamp (1975), The Gigli Concert (1983), and The Wake (1998). Thomas Kilroy's Talbot's Box (1977) made exciting use of stage-space to convey states of mind.

The 1980s and 1990s brought fresh experimentation and work of high quality, in particular Frank McGuinness's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (1985); Tom McIntyre in The Great Hunger (1983) chose a non-naturalistic imagist-style; while Stewart Parker anatomized the competing nationalist rhetorics of Ireland in Northern Star (1985). Joe Dowling, Vincent Dowling, and Tomás Mac Anna were artistic directors in the 1970s and 1980s, and in 1990 Garry Hynes, who founded the Druid Theatre in Galway, assumed the post, vacating it in 1993, to be followed by Patrick Mason, Ben Barnes succeeding in 1999.

Bibliography

Robert Welch, A History of the Abbey, 1899-1999: Form and Pressure (1999).

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Abbey Theatre
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Abbey Theatre, Irish theatrical company devoted primarily to indigenous drama. W. B. Yeats was a leader in founding (1902) the Irish National Theatre Society with Lady Gregory, J. M. Synge, and A. E. (George Russell) contributing their talents as directors and dramatists. In 1904, Annie Horniman gave them a subsidy and the free use of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The theater was bought for them by public subscription in 1910. Among dramatists whose works the Abbey Theatre first presented are Padraic Colum, Lennox Robinson, Sean O'Casey, and Paul Vincent Carroll. The theater is now in a new building constructed in 1966. In close association with Irish dramatists, the Abbey also has been an important instrument in the revival of Irish drama that began in the 1960s.

Bibliography

See Lady Gregory, Our Irish Theatre (1913), and her journals (ed. by L. Robinson, 1946); H. Hunt, The Abbey: Ireland's National Theatre, 1904-1978 (1979); P. Kavanagh, Story of the Abbey Theatre (1984); R. Welch, The Abbey Theatre, 1899-1999 (1999).

Wikipedia: Abbey Theatre
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This article is about the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. For Abbey's Theatre on Broadway, see Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway).
Abbey Theatre
Front facade
Address
26 Lower Abbey Street
City
Dublin
Country Ireland
Designation National Theatre of Ireland
Architect Michael Scott
Owned by Abbey Theatre Limited (prev. National Theatre Society)
Capacity 494
Opened 1904
Rebuilt 1965
abbeytheatre.ie

The Abbey Theatre (Irish: Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland (Irish: Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day. The Abbey was the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world; from 1925 onwards it received an annual subsidy from the Irish Free State. Since July 1966, the Abbey has been located at 26 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1.[1]

In its early years, the theatre was closely associated with the writers of the Irish Literary Revival, many of whom were involved in its founding and most of whom had plays staged there. The Abbey served as a nursery for many of the leading Irish playwrights and actors of the 20th century, including William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory Augusta, Sean O'Casey and John Millington Synge. In addition, through its extensive programme of touring abroad and its high visibility to foreign, particularly North American, audiences, it has become an important part of the Irish tourist industry.[2]

Contents

History

Irish Literary Theatre

A poster for the opening run at the Abbey Theatre from 27 December 1904 to 3 January 1905

The Abbey arose from three distinct bases, the first of which was the seminal Irish Literary Theatre. Founded by Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and William Butler Yeats in 1899 — with assistance from George Moore[3] — it presented plays in the Ancient Concert Rooms and the Gaiety Theatre, which brought critical approval but limited public interest.

The second base involved the work of two Irish brothers, William and Frank Fay.[4] William worked in the 1890s with a touring company in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, while Frank was heavily involved in amateur dramatics in Dublin. After William returned to Dublin, the Fay brothers staged productions in halls around the city and eventually formed W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company, focused on the development of Irish acting talent. In April 1902, the Fays gave three performances of Æ's play Deirdre and Yeats' Cathleen Ní Houlihan in a hall in St. Theresa's Hall on Clarendon Street. The performances played to a mainly working-class audience rather than the usual middle-class Dublin theatre-goers. The run was a great success, thanks in part to Maud Gonne, who played the lead in Yeats' play. The company continued at the Ancient Concert Rooms, producing works by Seumas O'Cuisin, Fred Ryan and Yeats.

The third base was financial support and experience of Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman. Horniman was a middle-class Englishwoman with previous experience of theatre production, having been involved in the presentation of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man in London in 1894. She came to Dublin in 1903 to act as Yeats' unpaid secretary and to make costumes for a production of his play The King's Threshold. Her money helped found the Abbey Theatre and, according to the critic Adrian Frazier, would "make the rich feel at home, and the poor - on a first visit - out of place."[5]

Foundation

Lady Gregory pictured on the frontispiece to Our Irish Theatre: A Chapter of Autobiography (1913)

Encouraged by the St Theresa's Hall success, Yeats, Lady Gregory, Æ, Martyn, and John Millington Synge founded the Irish National Theatre Society in 1903 with funding from Horniman. At first, they staged performances in the Molesworth Hall.[6] When the Hibernian Theatre of Varieties in Lower Abbey Street and an adjacent building in Marlborough Street became available after fire safety authorities closed the Hibernia, Horniman and William Fay agreed to buy and refit the space to meet the society's needs.[7]

On 11 May 1904, the society formally accepted Horniman's offer of the use of the building. As Horniman did not usually reside in Ireland, the royal letters patent required were granted in the name of Lady Gregory, although paid for by Horniman. The founders appointed William Fay theatre manager, responsible for training the actors in the newly established repertory company. They commissioned Yeats' brother Jack to paint portraits of all the leading figures in the society for the foyer, and hired Sarah Purser to design stained glass for the same space.[8]

On 27 December, the curtains went up on opening night. The bill consisted of three one-act plays, On Baile's Strand and Cathleen Ní Houlihan by Yeats, and Spreading the News by Lady Gregory. On the second night, In the Shadow of the Glen by Synge replaced the second Yeats play. These two bills alternated over a five-night run. Frank Fay, playing Cúchulainn in On Baile's Strand, was the first actor on the Abbey stage.[9] Although Horniman had designed the costumes, neither she nor Lady Gregory were present. Horniman had returned to England. In addition to providing funding, her chief role with the Abbey over the coming years was to organise publicity and bookings for their touring productions in London and provincial England.

In 1905 without properly consulting Horniman, Yeats, Lady Gregory and Synge decided to turn the theatre into a limited liability company, the National Theatre Society Ltd.[10] Annoyed by this treatment, she hired Ben Iden Payne, a former Abbey employee, to help run a new repertory company which she founded in Manchester.[11]

Early years

The new Abbey Theatre found great popular success, and large crowds attended many of its productions. The Abbey was fortunate in having Synge as a key member, as he was then considered one of the foremost English-language dramatists. The theatre staged many plays by eminent or soon-to-be eminent authors, including Yeats, Lady Gregory, Moore, Martyn, Padraic Colum, George Bernard Shaw, Oliver St John Gogarty, F. R. Higgins, Thomas MacDonagh, Lord Dunsany, T. C. Murray, James Cousins and Lennox Robinson. Many of these authors served on the board, and it was during this time that the Abbey gained its reputation as a writers' theatre.

John Millington Synge, author of The Playboy of the Western World, which caused riots at the Abbey on its opening night.

The Abbey's fortunes worsened in January 1907 when the opening of Synge's The Playboy of the Western World resulted in civil disturbance. The troubles (since known as the Playboy Riots) were encouraged, in part, by nationalists who believed the theatre was insufficiently political and who took offence at Synge's use of the word 'shift', as it was known at the time as a symbol representing Kitty O'Shea and adultery, and hence was seen as a slight on the virtue of Irish womanhood.[12] Much of the crowd rioted loudly, and the actors performed the remainder of the play in dumbshow.[13] The theatre's decision to call in the police further roused anger of the nationalists. Although press opinion soon turned against the rioters and the protests faded, management of the Abbey was shaken. They chose not to stage Synge's next—and last completed—play, The Tinker's Wedding (1908), for fear of further disturbances. That same year, the Fay brothers' association with the theatre ended when they emigrated to the United States; Lennox Robinson took over the Abbey's day-to-day management.

In 1909, Shaw's The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet led to further protests. The subsequent discussion occupied a full issue of the theatre's journal The Arrow. Also that year, the proprietors decided to make the Abbey independent of Annie Horniman, who had indicated a preference for this course. Relations with Horniman had been tense, partly because she wished to be involved in choosing which plays were to be performed and when. As a mark of respect for the death of King Edward VII, an understanding existed that Dublin theatres were to close on the night of 7 May 1910. Robinson, however, kept the Abbey open.[14] When Horniman heard of Robinson's decision, she severed her connections with the company.[15] By her own estimate, she had invested £10,350—worth approximately $1 million in 2007 US dollars—on the project.

With the loss of Horniman, Synge, and the Fays, the Abbey under Robinson tended to drift, suffering from falling public interest and box office returns. This trend was halted for a time by the emergence of Sean O'Casey as an heir to Synge.[16] O'Casey's career as a dramatist began with The Shadow of a Gunman, staged by the Abbey in 1923. This was followed by Juno and the Paycock in 1924, and The Plough and the Stars in 1926. Theatergoers arose in riots over the last play, in a way reminiscent of those that had greeted the Playboy 19 years earlier.[17] Concerned about public reaction, the Abbey rejected O'Casey's next play. He emigrated to London shortly thereafter.[18]

In 1924, Yeats and Lady Gregory offered the Abbey to the government of the Free State as a gift to the Irish people. Although the government refused, the following year Minister of Finance Ernest Blythe arranged an annual government subsidy of £850 for the Abbey. This made the company the first state-supported theatre in the English-speaking world.[19] The subsidy allowed the theatre to avoid bankruptcy, but the amount was too small to rescue it from financial difficulty.

The Abbey School of Acting and the Abbey School of Ballet were set up that year. The latter was led by Ninette de Valois—who had provided choreography for a number of Yeats' plays—and ran until 1933.[20]

Around this time the company acquired additional space, allowing them to create a small experimental theatre, the Peacock, in the ground floor of the main theatre. In 1928, Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammoir launched the Gate Theatre, initially using the Peacock to stage works by European and American dramatists.[21] The Gate primarily sought work from new Irish playwrights and, despite the new space, the Abbey entered a period of artistic decline.

This is illustrated by the story of how one new work was said to have come to the Gate Theatre. Denis Johnston reportedly submitted his first play, Shadowdance, to the Abbey; however, Lady Gregory rejected it, returning it to the author with “The Old Lady says No” written across the title page.[22] Johnston decided to re-title the play. The Gate staged The Old Lady Says 'No' in The Peacock in 1928. (Note: academic critics Joseph Ronsley and Christine St. Peter have questioned the veracity of this story.[23]

After Yeats

The tradition of the Abbey as primarily a writers' theatre survived Yeats' withdrawal from day-to-day involvement. Frank O'Connor sat on the board from 1935 to 1939, served as managing director from 1937, and had two plays staged during this period. He was alienated from and unable to cope with many of the other board members. They held O'Connor's past adultery against him. Although he fought formidably to retain his position, soon after Yeats died, the board began machinations to remove O'Connor.[24][25]

During the 1940s and 1950s, the staple fare at the Abbey was comic farce set in the idealised peasant world of playwright Éamon de Valera. If it had ever existed, it was no longer considered relevant by most Irish citizens. As a result, audience numbers continued to decline. This drift might have been more dramatic but popular actors, including F. J. McCormick, and dramatists, including George Shiels, could still draw a crowd. Austin Clarke staged events for his Dublin Verse Speaking Society—later the Lyric Theatre—at the Peacock from 1941 to 1944 and the Abbey from 1944 to 1951.

On 17 July 1951, fire destroyed the Abbey Theatre, with only the Peacock surviving intact. [26] The company leased the old Queen's Theatre in September and continued in residence there until 1966. The Queen's had been home to the Happy Gang, a team of comedians who specialised in popular skits, farces and pantomimes and drew wide audiences. With its continued diet of 'peasant comedies', the new tenants were not far removed from the old.

Neither Brendan Behan nor Samuel Beckett, two of the two more interesting Irish dramatists to emerge in the 1950s, featured in these productions. In February 1961, the ruins of the Abbey were demolished. The board had plans for rebuilding with a design by the Irish architect Michael Scott. On 3 September 1963, the President of Ireland, Eamon de Valera, laid the foundation stone for the new theatre. The Abbey reopened on 18 July 1966.[27]

Recent years

New generation

A new building; a new generation of dramatists, including such figures as Hugh Leonard, Brian Friel and Tom Murphy; and tourism that included the National Theatre as a key cultural attraction, helped revive the theatre. Beginning in 1957, the theatre's participation in the Dublin Theatre Festival aided its revival. Plays such as Brian Friel's Philadelphia Here I Come! (1964), The Faith Healer (1979) and Dancing at Lughnasa (1990); Jimmy Murphy's A Whistle In the Dark (1961) and The Gigli Concert (1983); and Hugh Leonard's Da (1973) and A Life (1980), helped raise the Abbey's international profile through successful runs in the West End in London, and on Broadway in New York City.

In December 2004, the theatre celebrated its centenary with events that included performances of the original programme by amateur dramatic groups and a production of Michael West's Dublin By Lamplight, originally staged by Annie Ryan for The Corn Exchange company at the Project Arts Centre in November 2004. Despite the centenary, not all was well. Audience numbers were falling; the Peacock was closed for lack of money; the theatre was near bankruptcy, and the staff felt the threat of huge lay-offs.

In September 2004 two members of the theatre's advisory council, playwrights Jimmy Murphy and Ulick O'Connor, had tabled a motion of no confidence in Artistic Director Ben Barnes. They criticised Barnes for touring with a play in Australia during the deep financial and artistic crisis at home. Barnes returned and temporarily held his position.[28] The debacle put the Abbey under great public scrutiny. On 12 May 2005, Barnes and Managing Director Brian Jackson resigned after it was found that the theatre's deficit of €1.85 million had been underestimated.[29] The new director, Fiach Mac Conghail, due to start in January 2006, took over in May 2005.[30]

On 20 August 2005, the Abbey Theatre Advisory Council approved a plan to dissolve the Abbey's owner, the National Theatre Society, and replace it with a company limited by guarantee, the Abbey Theatre Limited. After strong debate, the board accepted the program. Basing its actions on this plan, the Arts Council of Ireland awarded the Abbey €25.7 million in January 2006 to be spread over three years.[30] The grant represented an approximate 43 percent increase in the Abbey's revenues and was the largest grant ever awarded by the Arts Council.[31] The new company was established on 1 February 2006, with the announcement of a new Abbey Board chaired by High Court Judge Bryan McMahon. In March 2007, the larger auditorium in the theatre was radically reconfigured by Jean-Guy Lecat as part of a major upgrade of the theatre.

More than 20 writers have been commissioned by the Abbey since Mac Conghail was appointed director in May 2005.[32] The Abbey is also producing new Irish plays commissioned and developed by London's Royal Court Theatre; Tom Murphy's Alice Trilogy and Marina Carr's Woman and Scarecrow are examples. The Abbey is also developing a relationship with the Public Theater in New York, where it has presented two new plays; Terminus by Mark O'Rowe and Sam Shepard's Kicking a Dead Horse.

Development

After discussions over many years, the Irish government announced in 2007 that a new theatre building would be procured for the Abbey by way of a public-private partnership contract for design, construction, financing and maintenance. This building will be in Dublin's "Docklands" area and will comprise three auditorium spaces, including a 700-seat main theatre, a 350-seat secondary performance space and a 150-seat studio theatre, along with rehearsal and education facilities, storage, wardrobe, archive and office space, and one or more bars and restaurants and a bookshop.

The general and artistic operation of the new theatre will continue to be the responsibility of the Abbey Theatre Amharclann na Mainistreach Ltd.[33]

Notes

  1. ^ "About the Abbey". abbeytheatre.ie. Retrieved on 2 April 2008.
  2. ^ "Dáil Debate". Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas, Dáil Debate, Vol. 607 No. 4, 13 October 2005. Retrieved on 23 January 2008.
  3. ^ Foster (2003), pp. 486, 662.
  4. ^ Kavanagh, p. 30.
  5. ^ Frazier, Adrian. Behind the Scenes: Yeats, Horniman, and the Struggle for the Abbey Theater, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990. p. 172
  6. ^ Mikhail, E. H. The Abbey Theatre: Interviews and Recollections', Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, October 1987. p. 97. ISBN 0-3892-0616-4
  7. ^ McCormack, W. J. (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture, Blackwell Publishing, 28 January 2002. p. 7. ISBN 0-6312-2817-9
  8. ^ Frazier, p. 172.
  9. ^ Hunt, p. 61.
  10. ^ Richards, Shaun. The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Irish Drama, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, February, 2004. p. 63. ISBN 0-5210-0873-5
  11. ^ Butler Yeats, William. The Collected Letters of W. B. Yeats: Volume IV: 1905-1907, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Republished 1996. p. 616. ISBN 0-1981-2684-0
  12. ^ Price, Alan Synge and Anglo-Irish Drama, London: Methuen, 1961. pp. 15, 25.
  13. ^ Isherwood, Charles. "A Seductive Fellow Returns, but in a Darker Mood", New York Times, 28 October 2004.
  14. ^ Leland, Mary. The Lie of the Land: Journeys Through Literary Cork, Cork: Cork University Press, 2000. p. 238. ISBN 1-8591-8231-3
  15. ^ Welch, Robert, Stewart, Bruce. The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature, Oxford: Oxford University Press, January, 1996. p. 3. ISBN 0-1986-6158-4
  16. ^ Kavanagh, pp. 118, 127, 137.
  17. ^ Kavanagh, p. 135.
  18. ^ Collins, Glenn. "O'Casey's Widow Muses on His Friendship With Shaw", New York Times, 13 November 1989. Retrieved on 21 January 2008.
  19. ^ Kavanagh, pp. 125–126.
  20. ^ Sorley Walker, Kathrine. "The Festival and the Abbey: Ninette de Valois' Early Choreography, 1925-1934, Part One". Dance Chronicle, Volume 7, No. 4, 1984–85. pp. 379–412.
  21. ^ Welsh (1999), p. 108.
  22. ^ Welch, Robert, and Stewart, Bruce. The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. p. 275. ISBN 0-1986-6158-4
  23. ^ Bartlett, Rebecca Ann. Choice's Outstanding Academic Books, 1992-1997: Reviews of Scholarly Titles, Association of College & Research Libraries, 1998. p. 136. ISBN 0-8389-7929-7
  24. ^ Pierce, David. "Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Reader". Cork: Cork University Press, September, 2000. p. 743. ISBN 1-8591-8208-9
  25. ^ Welch, p. 135.
  26. ^ Haggerty, Bridget. "Irish Landmarks: The Abbey Theatre". irishcultureandcustoms.com. Retrieved on 21 January 2008.
  27. ^ Harmon, Maurice. Austin Clarke 1896-1974: A Critical Introduction, Rowman & Littlefield, July, 1989. p. 116. ISBN 0-3892-0864-7
  28. ^ Lavery, Brian. "Deficit, Cutbacks and Crisis for Abbey Theater at 100". New York Times, 16 September 2004. Retrieved on 21 January 2007.
  29. ^ Hogan, Louise. "Judge appointed to lead Abbey". Irish Examiner, 30 September 2005. Retrieved on 21 January 2007.
  30. ^ a b Lavery, Brian. "The Abbey Theater's Fiach Mac Conghail Takes a Cue From Yeats", New York Times, 25 March 2006. Retrieved on 23 January 2007.
  31. ^ Kilroy, Ian. "Abbey Theatre lands historic €25.7m three-year grant". Irish Examiner, 25 January 2006. Retrieved on 25 January 2008.
  32. ^ "MacConghail takes charge at Abbey Theatre", The Stage Newspaper, 15 February 2005. Retrieved on 21 January 2007.
  33. ^ Dublin, Ireland, 18 December 2007: Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, formal notice of project and tender for Advisors to Secure PPP Partners

Bibliography

  • Fitz-Simon, Christopher. The Abbey Theatre - Ireland's National Theatre: The First 100 Years. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003. ISBN 0-5002-8426-1
  • Foster, R. F. W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. II: The Arch-Poet 1915–1939. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-1981-8465-4.
  • Frazier, Adrian. Behind the Scenes: Yeats, Horniman, and the Struggle for the Abbey Theatre. Berkeley: University of California, March 1990. ISBN 0-5200-6549-2
  • Gregory, Lady Augusta. Our Irish Theatre. New York and London: Knickerbocker Press, 1913.
  • Grene, Nicholas. The Politics of Irish Drama: Plays in Context from Boucicault to Friel. Cambridge University Press, February 1999. ISBN 0-5216-6536-1
  • Hogan, Robert, and Richard Burnham. Modern Irish Drama: A Documentary History. Vols. I-VI..
  • Hunt, Hugh. The Abbey: Ireland's National Theater, 1904-1979. New York: Columbia University Press, October 1979. ISBN 0-2310-4906-4
  • Igoe, Vivien. A Literary Guide to Dublin. Methuen, April 1995. ISBN 0-4136-9120-9
  • Kavanagh, Peter. The Story of the Abbey Theatre. New York: Devin-Adair, 1950.
  • Kilroy, James. The "Playboy" Riots. Dublin: Dolmen Pres, 1971. ASIN: B000LNLIXO
  • McGlone, James P. Ria Mooney: The Life and Times of the Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre. McFarland and Company, February, 2002. ISBN 0-7864-1251-8
  • Robinson, Lennox. Ireland's Abbey Theatre. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1951.
  • Ryan, Philip B. The Lost Theatres of Dublin. The Badger Press, September 1998. ISBN 0-9526-0761-1
  • Welch, Robert. The Abbey Theatre, 1899-1999: Form and Pressure. Oxford: Oxford University Press, February 1999. ISBN 0-1992-6135-0

External links

Coordinates: 53°20′54″N 6°15′26″W / 53.34833°N 6.25722°W / 53.34833; -6.25722

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Theatres in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
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