The Irish standard., 1911-09-16
Will NOT REPRESENT
CHRISTIAN IRELAND
Irish Drama to be Presented in
America Will Represent Old
Pagan Ideals.
DR.. Hogan Criticizes the Productions
as Unfair to Modern Catho-
lie Ireland.
Some of the Plays are Both lnartis-
tic and Offensive to Irish
Peasantry.

Anent the announcement that num-
Der of distinguished Irish artists are
to visit this country in the early fall
to inaugurate a new era of Irish
drama the criticism of DR.. Hogan of
Maynoosh regarding the nature or the
Irish dramas which arc to be revived
is very opropos. Among the persons
interested in this work are William
Butler Yeates, Lady Gregory, George
Bernard Shaw and William Synge
Naturally the public would expect the
dramas of Ireland to be ably pre-
sented by artists of such calibre.
However, according to Rev. DR.. Hogan,
the dramas which these people are to
present are not representative of
modern Ireland at all. but a revival
of -Christian culture. DR., Hogan
says:
Lady Gregory. who is a friend OF
Mr. Yeats and of DR.. Hyde has popu-
larlZed the pagan legends of Erin, a
thing quite harmless and even useful
in itself; but when taken in cnnncc-
tion with the work of the Abbey thea
ter it looks as if it were part and par
Gel Of pagan renaissance We are
strengthened in this opinion by the
words of Mr.. Yeats. who has written
Il preface for I4ady Gregory's ~Cttchu-
lain of Muirthemne: We Irish,' he
writes, Should keep these personages
| much in our hearts; for they lived in
| ketlng, and sometimes they have met
| one another on the hills that cast their
shadows on our doors at evening, IL
we but tell these stories to our chill
drcn the land will begin again to be a
Holy land as it was before men gave
their hearts to Greece and Rome and
Judca.'
"Of Mr.. Syngc, the author Of "rhe
Riders of the Sea-, and "rhe PIayboy
of the Western World We need say
nothing more than that he was the
originator of Il class of plays, which.
when transferred from the Abbey
theatcr in Dublin to the Court thcatcr
IN London, were described by Il critic
in The Pail Mall Gazette dune 81,
1870, as not remarkable for any wit
or humor or genius, but rather as dis
torcd pictures of human nature. AS
such they were rcpulsive and disgust
ing. In many cases they seemed to
be nothing more than photographs of
bestial stupidity and deprnvity.' The
coarsencss of the insult they offered
to the Catholic peasHntry of Ireland
! was the least of their dra whacks. 'rhev
were as inartistic as they were often
sive.
"Thesc people have really no hold
on Ireland. They have daZzlcd some
uncducatcd people at home, and ap-
parently some ignorant persons
abroad. That is all. 1t is owing tn
people are calling their children by
the pagan names Of Fin, Deirdre, and
Ferdad, just as the French atheists
call theirs Dumnorix and Vercinge-
torix
There are plenty of poets who be-
licve in God, and very many, too, who
although they do not belong to the
Catholic church. have said and writ
ten beautiful things of it; but among
them ! do not think there is single
one of the prominent persons men.
toned in connection with the Abbey
thcater. On the contrary, they seen
to bear 1t a continuous grudge, and Il
looks as if they longed to accomplish
by roundabout turning movement.
what their kindly predecessors failed
to accomplish by their frontal charges
They accordingly proceed to rational.
iZc Professionalism. and present 1t witt
new label. 1t matters not whether
the Irish people accept orthodox Pro.
testantism or not, provided they aban.
don Catholicism or become Catholic!
on the model Of Continental Free
masons."
Celebrates Mass on Mountain Top.
Climbing the steep sides Of Noun
Shasta by moonlight and saying Higl