page_title: The Playboy of the Western World
section_title: Characters
hierarchical_section_title: The Playboy of the Western World / Characters
caption_attribution_description: English: irish actors Sara Allgood ("Pegeen Mike") and J. M. Kerrigan ("Shawn Keogh"), in the J. M. Synge's play The Playboy of the Western World, Plymouth Theatre, Boston
context_page_description: The Playboy of the Western World is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo during the early 1900s. It tells the story of Christy Mahon, a young man running away from his farm, claiming he killed his father.
  The locals are more interested in vicariously enjoying his story than in condemning the immorality of his murderous deed, and in fact, Christy's tale captures the romantic attention of the bar-maid Pegeen Mike, the daughter of Flaherty. The play is best known for its use of the poetic, evocative language of Hiberno-English, heavily influenced by the Irish language, as Synge celebrates the lyrical speech of the Irish.
context_section_description: Christy Mahon, a man who brags he has killed his father
  Old Mahon, Christy's father, a squatter
  Michael James Flaherty, a publican
  Margaret Flaherty, called Pegeen Mike, Michael's daughter, and the bar-maid
  Shawn Keogh,  a young man who loves Pegeen
  Widow Quin, a widow of about thirty
  Philly Cullen and Jimmy Farrell, farmers
  Sara Tansey, Susan Brady, Honor Blake, and Nelly, village girls
  A Bellman
  Some peasants and farmers
caption: Irish actors Sara Allgood ("Widow Quin") and J. M. Kerrigan ("Shawn Keogh"), in The Playboy of the Western World, Plymouth Theatre, Boston, 1911
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000", "Image DateTime": "2009:12:10 13:19:22", "Image ExifOffset": "2202", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4420", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2244", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "EB51A8E181BF46178A0D01A66A763B34", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}