New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-01-03
LIVELY LITERARY HISTORY
Lady Gregory's Story of the
Irish Theatre.

OUR IRISH THEATRE. A Chapter Of
AutobiOgrap ply. BY Lady Gregory.
Illustrated. 12mO, PIP y, 3l9 G. +.
Putnams Sons.
Any exhibition of wild beasts or
. dangerous performances, among other
things. Dame Augusta Gregory as
patentee. was "enjoined and com
manded" not to put upon the stage.
so read the patent from the Crown,
without which in Dublin a new theatre
cannot he opened. An exhibition of
wild beasts, however. is commonly
much less exciting performance than
the career of the Irish theatre. Lady
Gregorys intimate little story of one of
the most spectacular chapters in liter
airy history misses none Of the fun of
the thing. TO begin with, she says
she has never quite understood the
meaning Of the Celtic movement"
which we were said to belong to-"
When asked about it, she used to say
it was a movement meant to per-
suade the Scotch to begin buying our
books, while we continued not TO buy
! theirs She prints the first formal
statement Of the emprise, which truly
seems now a little pompous."
our Irish Theatre" began, at any
rate, in a high ambition to build up a
| Celtic and Irish school of dramatic lit
| erature. The word Celtic" Lady
Gregory thinks, was put in for the sake
OF Fiona Macleod, whose plays, how
/ ever we never acted. though we used
TO amuse ourselves by thinking of the
! call for author that might follow
one" The progress of the work for a
| national theatre TO bring upon the
stage the deeper thoughts and emo
! lions Of Ireland" Is sketched in a chap
| ter or two. The founding OF the Gaelic
! League the movement for keeping the
| Irish language a spoken one, with its
/ disclosure OF folk-things, began the
current that carried the Irish theatre,
chiefly known now as a folk-theatre,
on its way. Readers of George MoOre's
/ Hail and Farewell have perhaps
more vivid If somewhat biassed, i'm
pressions Of the men OF letters in Ire
/ land to-day than these pages give.
Who could forget the picture OF Mr..
Yeats standing in long raincoat and
/ looking remarkably like an unopened
| umbrella upside down? A very inter
esting sketch here, however, is the
chapter on Synge. shrinking from civ
( ilization in it's most violent form
With the advent of that terrible word
shift" upon the stage Lady Gregory
is fun of good stories. one We had not
heard before tells OF a lady from the
country who wrote referring to this,
saying "the word omitted but under
stood was one she would blush to use
even when she was alone Ever since
there had been company OF Irish
players, they had hoped and perhaps
determined TO go TO An t-Oilean ur. -
the New Island" the greater Ireland
hey ond the Atlantic" An anecdote IL
Illustrates the "nearness OF America"
An old woman at Kiltartan explained
that her daughter had concluded her
visit home because her teeth were
troubling her and her dentist lived at
Boston"
The storm in America over The
Cowboy Of the Western World as a
Philadelphia lady called it, is recorded
in the form of diary and letters.
Most dramatic we're the scenes enacted
in the courts. where at one time the
prosecutors grew so excited. the trial
gotten. and IL became the trial of
Christy Mahon for the attempted muir
der OF his father" one actor became
go furious he called out. My Cod"
and the magistrate said. IF that man
interrupts the court again tpss him