New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-20

matched with the straw of his crop. He
might prefer TO have the friendship of
horses and cattle and dogs, to have lei
sure for thought and conversation and
for uncon- ious communion with nat
ure.
But this is mere parenthesis. II is
enough 10 say that the Irish born peo-
ple here are more American than the
Americans themselves in their devotion
TO the standards of middle class life.
They dislike the plays that the Abbey
Theatre Company brings over because
these plays hold up the mirror to the
normal life of peasant Ireland. They
rejoiced when the Abbey Company put
on a fantastic comedy that showed
countryside making hero OF young
man who was alleged TO have killed his
father. This production enabled them
to bring the play into court, so to
speak. In the rush on "The Playboy of
the Western World" they hoped they
would be able 10 lynch the authors,
actors and producers of all Irish peas
ant plays.
But it is the Irish born men and
women in America and their children
that the projectors of the American
Theatre most Of all wish TO influence.
They wish our people here to be proud
with Irelsnd's pride, TO keep some VIVID
memory of place or person or
hope The new theatre Will not waste
itself in striving against powerful
prejudice. A time will come when our
people here, knowing more OF their own
history and taking a more enlightened
view of the lives and problems OF the
folk at home, will accept the peasant
plays that they have heretofore at
tackled. II is patent that they are out
of humor with the cabin-well, let Us
show them the castle, the camp and the
cloister.
The Abbey Theatre in Dublin special
ICES on the peasant play. The Amer,
can-Irish Theatre, both for the SAKE o,
INDEPENDENCE and eXpediency, should
work a different vein. With the excep-
ton of Lady Gregory's "Kincora" ana
Conal O'Riordan's Imaginary CONVEX
sation," no plays dealing with IRISH ms
torical subjects have been produced.
The American-Irish Theatre might
make a feature of dealing with the ro-
mantle and the heroic life OF Ireland.
Two wears ago dramatic pageant, An
Dbord Fhiann," was produced by irish
people in New York, and 1t was proba-
bly the best spectacular representation
of Irish heroic life given in any place.
John p. Campbell, the Irish artist, VINO
directed that production, will be
practical worker for the American-lrlsh
Theatre. -.
The talent for the new venture must
be drawn from the Irish born people
here. The National Theatre movement
in Ireland drew its force from tne
young men and women who were IN me
political and literary societies IN DUB
lin. The same types are here-yoeng
people with natural dramatic aoiIltleS;
with personalities that can be aroused
by plays that deal with the history or
with the contemporary lie around
them. Among the hundreds ana thou-
sands Of young and alert irish people
in New York we may discover talent
as fine and as distinctive as that OF
Sara Allgood or Muire O'Nehl, or
Arthur Sinclair. J. NJ. Kerrigan or Fred
Donovan. We hope to find dramatlsts
among them as well as players. We
want the people of our own race mere
l 10 show their own lives in the theatre
, and to let their problems, their WORK
| and their aspirations become part OF
/ Irish culture. -,
/ II il most likely that beginning Will
/ be made with spectacular play. Apart
| from the considerations touched upon
previously, it is fitting that a new the
atrical movement in America shoula
/ beoin with such drama. The eye trained
/ in American surroundings desires and
delights in dramatic spectacle, and IN
/ America one can learn everything that
/ II is useful to know about the produc-
/ ton Of spectacular plays.
PADRAIC CoLUM.