[W]hen the play takes its uncorrectable skid into tragedy, there’s enough dramatic force to make you feel for the characters, even the ones you laughed at. At nearly 100 years old, O’Casey’s play still packs heat.
The cast is miraculously right, though none of the 10 actors appear to be “performing.” Instead, they create the wholly persuasive illusion of being a group of ordinary people who are simply living their lives.
The general excellence of Irish Rep’s production of The Shadow of a Gunman makes one look forward to seeing the next two shows in its O’Casey Cycle. Let’s mention, finally, that the playbill features several pages of historical context as well as a glossary that theatergoers likely will find to be helpful in appreciating these classic plays.
The Irish Repertory Theatre, in New York, are marking their 30th anniversary by holding a Sean O’Casey Season from 30th of January until the 25th of May. There are several events that make up the festival with the centerpiece being stagings of all three of Sean’s Dublin Trilogy in repertory.
In addition to the repertory season they are putting on a series of readings of all Sean O’Casey’s plays. This is a great opportunity to hear some important works that are not often performed. The works presented are,
The Silver Tassie (1928)
Within the Gates (1934)
The Star Turns Red (1940)
Purple Dust (1940/1945)
Red Roses for Me (1942)
Oak Leaves and Lavender (1946)
Cock-a-Doodle Dandy (1949)
Three One Acts Part I: “Bedtime Story” (1951), “The End of the Beginning” (1937), and “A Pound on Demand” (1939)
Three One Acts Part II: “Behind the Green Curtains” (1961), “Figuro in the Night” (1961), and “The Moon Shines on Kylenamoe” (1961)
The Bishop’s Bonfire: A Sad Play within the Tune of a Polka (1955)
The Drums of Father Ned (1959)
The readings are free but spaces are limited. Apply to the Irish Repertory Theatre box office for invitations.
A map of Dublin with the location of Sean O'Casey's homes and places of interest marked by David Butcher in preparation for his trip to Dublin in 1956.
Sean O’Casey was a prolific writer of letters. His correspondence was both deep and wide. Many of his letters were ably tracked down and presented in four volumes by the US poet and academic David Krause. These books are now out of print but can still be found second-hand, and are an extraordinary work of scholarship. This story is not included in there, but is also one that deserves telling.
In 1955 Sean corresponded with an amateur actor called David Butcher. David was born in Dublin in 1920, and although his family returned to England in 1922 he retained a strong connection to the country. He wrote to Sean after reading Sean’s autobiography asking him about specific places in Dublin where Sean had a connection or interest.
Sean O’Casey’s letter to David Butcher p. 1
Sean O’Casey’s letter to David Butcher p. 2
His story came to us via his cousin’s son Hugh Levey.
Norman David Butcher (known as David) was the only child of English parents: Charles Edward Butcher and Ethel Butcher (née Levey). His father, Charles, worked for the Audit Department of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Company, based mostly in Norfolk. In 1913 Charles was transferred to the Auditor General’s Departments in Dublin, where [Norman] David was born on 7th January 1920.
Clearly there was much unrest in Ireland during the whole of this period, culminating in the formation of the Irish Free State and civil war. As a Civil Servant of English extraction, Charles Butcher was relocated back to the UK for his and the family’s safety. As David later wrote, “With great sadness the Butcher family left Dublin on 20th July, 1922, my mother in tears all the way over to Holyhead.”
David retained a fond affection for Ireland all of his life, and for Dublin in particular. He often visited Ireland, to meet up with other relations (Todd family) and to enjoy the people, culture and history.
David Butcher trained as an Accountant and spent much of his working life with British manufacturing company Goring-Kerr, retiring as a Director in July 1987. He lived in the Windsor area and was a passionate amateur actor, performing for over 40 years with the Windsor Theatre Guild, where he also acted as Treasurer (& Chairman?). He inherited his love of the theatre from his Aunt May Levey who was also an amateur thespian.
His love of literature and his love of Dublin, appears to have come together in his interest in Sean O’Casey’s work. He had read the writer’s autobiographies, corresponded with him, and photographed locations which were significant in O’Casey’s Dublin life and inspiration. David attended a 1995 performance of Juno and the Paycock in Dublin and was introduced to most of the cast by Tom McKenna. David, himself, performed roles in the play at least 2 or 3 times, including an amateur performance he organised in the late 1950s to raise funds for the rebuilding of Dublin’s Abbey Theatre.
David Butcher Visits Sean O’Casey’s Dublin
The following are pages from David Butcher’s album containing his letter from Sean O’Casey and his photographs and record of a trip to Dublin, in June 1956, to visit Sean’s old homes and to see the Abbey Theatre’s production of Juno and the Paycock. He tracked down the locations Sean described to him of where he had lived in Dublin. David also ventured out to explore more of the city and caused a sensation with his camera it seems.
Sean O’Casey’s Dublin 31st May 1955 “My father died in, and was buried from, 9, Inisfallen Parade – a street of little slum cottages, at the Drumcondra end of Lower Dorset Street, near Binn’s Bridge across the Royal Canal over which I often leaned when a kid, to watch the barges crawling along the water, or look at trains thundering by on their iron rails.”
“I lived for a time in a tenement in Summerhill, nearly opposite Hutton’s the great coach building firm – I can never remember the number of the house.” “Also in a room in Mountjoy Square, whose number, too I have forgotten. – here a raid gave me the idea of – “Shadow of a Gunman”. Also in 4 (afterwards 18), Abercorn Road.
North Wall, near St. Barnabas’ Church. Also in 422, North Circular Road, where “Gunman” “Juno” & “The Plough & the Stars” were written”. “In Lincoln Place, off Westland Row, was the Eye & Ear Hospital (now I believe a warehouse) where if all the times of visits were counted, I must have spent some years of my life.”
“But Dublin has many more exciting places to see than those which I hod to do with, and I hope you may see them all.” – Sean O’Casey 23rd May 1955 Liberty Hall, H.Q. of the Irish Workers’ Union, & Recruiting Centre for the Irish Republican Brotherhood – Sinn Fein – where Sean O’Casey spent much of his time. The Abbey Theatre. The old Broadstone Station of the M.G.W.R. from which Sean O’Casey mode one of his rare departures from Dublin – to stay with Lady Gregory in Co. Galway. A present day slum tenement in Lower Dominick Street. Upper Gardiner Street Slum doorway
Contrasting with five children dressed for some special occasion – “Please take our picture Mister!”
In Abercorn Road, North Wall, the camera soon attracted an audience, wanting to be photographed – with Ingrid Berhenleir. News soon spread, & within a few minutes another photograph! Jim Heffernan & Arthur Gorman acted as guides for my search of Sean O’Casey’s Dublin. As promised, I called back the following evening to say “Good-bye” & finish the last exposure.
David saw the Abbey Theatre production of Juno and the Paycock with Harry Brogan as the Captain and Eileen Crowe as Juno. The performance was staged at the Queen’s Theatre as the Abbey itself had been badly damaged by a fire (after a performance of The Plough and the Stars). He met with Tom McKenna, who played Johnny, and saw a show at the Gaiety Theatre with him before returning to England.
