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News

Abbey/Lyric Theatres’ Shadow Well Represented in the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards

Irish Times Clock
The Irish Times Clock | Flickr - Photo Sharing! : taken from - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dansapples/9563943531Author: Daniel Dudek-Corrigan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Congratulations to everyone involved in the recent production of Shadow of a Gunman co produced by the Abbey and Lyric Theatres. The production has received five nominations for Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards.

The nominees are,

  • Best Director, Wayne Jordan
  • Best Actor, Mark O’Halloran (Donal Davoren)
  • Best Supporting Actress, Amy McAllister (Minnie Powell)
  • Best Costume Design, Sarah Bacon
  • Best Set Design, Sarah Bacon

It is lovely to see this production recognised. The whole field of nominees is very strong pointing to a good year in dramatic arts. It is also good to see  the Waking The Feminists movement recognised in a  Judges’ special award for Lian Bell.

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History

Juno and the Paycock Radio Recording with an Introduction by Sean O’Casey

Sean O'Casey smiling

In a recent article on the dialects of Ireland Professor Raymond Hickey talks about how Irish and specifically Dublin accents aspirationally referenced English RP. He gives as examples James Joyce and Sean O’Casey, “listening now to recordings of James Joyce and Sean O’Casey, it’s extraordinary how English they sounded”.

Dr Liam P Ó Murchú contests this view. He gives examples of available recordings as evidence and contextualises them by pointing out that as formal recording both men probably put on their dialectical best to be understood.

The example he gives for Sean is an introduction to a 1955 radio recording of Juno and the Paycock produced by Cyril Cusak. Cusak himself plays Joxer. Juno and Captain Boyle are played by Siobhan McKenna and Seamus Kavangh. Sean’s introduction sets the scene for the play and lasts about seven minutes.

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News

First Draft of Juno and the Paycock Arrives at The National Library of Ireland

National Library of Ireland | Flickr - Photo Sharing! : taken from - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicokaiser/8119894533Author: Nico Kaiser https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The first draft of Juno and the Paycock has been officially received by the National Library of Ireland.  The manuscript was acquired in an auction at Sotheby’s in New York. The purchase was made possible by special allocation funding from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the NLI Trust.

The manuscript includes a handwritten draft of acts one and two of Juno and the Paycock, sections of act three, a list of characters and a synopsis of the play. The draft is in a school notebook, titled ‘Juno and the Peacock’ on the front cover.

Dr Sandra Collins, Director of the National Library of Ireland, said of the acquisition,

“We are delighted that this unique manuscript is now safely homed in the National Library. It represents a very significant addition to the NLI’s O’Casey collections, joining a substantial holding of O’Casey papers and his personal library, writing desk and other artefacts that really tell the story of this outstanding Irish playwright… This beautiful piece of Irish history and literature is as relevant for Irish actors and audiences today as it was in 1923”