The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-11-21
Says That Until Few Years Ago Ireland
Had No Stage Which Was
Characteristically Irish.
Plays in Both English and Gaelic are
Now Produced With Much Success
in all Parts of Ireland.

'rS would take caro- of their poltic,l
CONTROVERSIES, and consequently they
were crhNln" education as they never
tlid before. This birth of now i6n,s
''''" Ideals, he said. had had Il pro-
round effect upon Irish literature and
national life. Associations were or
%anlz"h to carry on the educational
movement along various lines and
'h'lS There came into existence the
Irish Literary Society of London, the
National Literary Society of Dublin.
inc Irish Literary thcatcr, the Fcis
'"oll committee, in Dublin, at whose
annual concerts of Irish music sinrcrs
ana pprrs from all parts of ireland
compete; the Irish Agricultural Or
"anlzati"n society. under tho LEADER
snip of Horace rlunkitt, and the Gaelic
league. which, under the presidency
or l)r. Douglas Hyde, has worked for
the revival of the native language of
ireland. II was at this timr that Mr.
yeats conceived the idea that the
stage could be made Il most potcnt
Instrument in the education of his fell
low colntrymcn. "InStcad of the
frivolous comic OPERA" hc said to his
''sSorE'leS. "l"t us put before the peo.
pie plays of their own life and history.
so that they may learn more fullv
about their present problems, as well
as thc rich heroic and lyric literature
OF the past. Let us not attempt too
much. Let us not try to fill great
music hall or stage it with sumptu-
GUS scenery. Let us rather appeal to
the hearts of the common people with
homcly themes"
with such an inspiration the Irish
Literary theatcr was established in
lSo9. Mr. Yeats was it's organizer and
lts head. 1t undertook to do for Irish
drama what Antoine with the Thcater
Librc, did for the French drama. The
young poet had written several plays
DaScd on the peasant life of the pres
cnt time and also the heroic legends
of oldcn days. The first actors were
| Englishmcn.
eve had to get English actors in
the beginning" said Mr.. Yeats 'be-
cause there We're few Irislmen who
knew how to act. We raised sufficient
capital and brought over a company
from London. We rented hall of
small proportions, which seemed OH
scurely modest compared with the
great music halls where comic operas
were performed. Our audiences were
large and enthusiastic, but not what
we wanted. In spite Of the prolonged
training, those Englishmen could not
disguise their nationality. 1 remem.
Der on one occasion that a cockney
who had taken the part of the ancient
Irish King Brian Boroimbe, the
mighty conqucror of the Scandinavia
ans, dropped his 'h's' in battle HYMN.
1t caused almost panic. We soon
saw that without Irish actors these
| Irish plays were doomed to failure.
We realized that we must take some
of our own countrymcn and educate
them for the stage. This at first
seemed impossible, because iii Ire.
land there are extremely few who
have the leisure for such an experi-
ment. After all, our project at that
time was only an experiment. Let us
go to the clerks and the shop girls,'
one of us said, 'and train them for the
stage after their work hours. Let US
| n.y. We found the task far easier
tllan we expected. 1t was only an
other evidence of the spirit of intel
lectual unrest which pervaded all
classes. We formed company. and
rellcarsed at night Our first plays
were chiefly one act productions, and
only required half-dozen perform
crs, yet l am sure we put more time
on these productions than many
Broadway managers on long plays.
We We're not working for money or
fame. We were working for the love
of country"
The dramatist became so enthusi-
astic over his subject that he had half
: climbed the chair on which he first