In Early Irish Theatre, plays performed were primarily focussed on Irish citizenship and fighting against the occupation of Britain in Ireland. During the Irish Literary Revival in the late 19th and early 20th Centaury writers like William Butler Yeats and Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory established Irish Literary Theatre and also worked towards creating a national theatre which then became The Abbey Theatre on Abbey Street. John Millington Synge believed that all plays had to be based on realism which was ‘a set of dramatic and theatrical conventions with the aim of bringing a greater fidelity of real life to texts and performances… it shared many stylistic choices with naturalism, including a focus on everyday (middle-class) drama, ordinary speech, and dull settings.’(Cash, Justin) J.M. Synge himself based his plays on realism very much like Sean O’Casey and Brian Friel however, W.B. Yeats was very invested and interested in the mythological and folklore that surrounded Ireland and he included this in many of his plays. Mythology was one of the very first themes in theatre as it dates back to Greek plays in amphitheatres that were based around and dedicated to the Greek Gods.
Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Peycock is very much based on the realism of life and the hardships faced by Irish families in 1922, particularly the Boyle family. The second of O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy, the play is set during the Irish Civil War where the family are living in part of a tenement in Dublin. It can be seen Juno and the Peycock is ‘firmly rooted in the Dublin tenements of O'Casey's youth and shares his anger at the futility of war, the waste of young lives and hopes destroyed by the awful lure of violence.’ (Holland, Mary) Juno and the Paycock is ‘steeped in the Irish tenement life that O’Casey had known intimately all his life with its poverty, irresponsibility, temperament, kindness, treachery and civil war; the characters exude vitality, and the dialogue is racy, pungent and comic’ (Attkinson xiii-xiv)
According to Terry Eagleton O’Casey was influenced by Bertold Brecht, and instinctively understood that in getting one’s story across, there is a need for the audience to enjoy itself and to be moved to want to go out and maybe even effect social change.
In Brook Atkinson’s opinion Juno and the Paycock ‘retains the highest rank because of the comic extravagance of the dialogue, the mercurial temperament of the characters, and the earthiness of themselves.’ (xiv) The earthiness of the play is reflected in the major theme of poverty in Juno and the Peycock. Living in a traditional Irish tenement the Boyle Family have no sustainable income as ‘Captain’ Jack Boyle claims he cannot work due to the pains in his legs. ‘It’s miraculous that whenever he scents a job in front of him, his legs begin to fail him!’ (O’Casey 205) The headstrong daughter, Mary, as a matter of principal walked out of her job, on strike as Jennie Claffey got sacked but ‘it was a clear case of victimisation’. (O’Casey 200) This reflects the ‘real’ features of the play as during the time it was set a lot of Irish people were living in poverty and sharing tenements with multiple different families. Their standard of living was very poor and this is reflected in the stage directions ‘in a corner near the window looking into the back is a galvanised bath.’ (O’Casey 198) which describe the compact nature of the Boyle family’s living. The character of Johnny Boyle reflects the realism of the time period as Ireland had just come through the War of Independence and were now in the middle of the Civil War between the Republicans and Ireland’s Free State Forces. ‘The bullet he got in the hip in Easter Week was bad enough; but the bomb that shattered his arm in the fight on O’Connell Street put the finishing touch on him.’ (O’Casey 200). This means Johnny also cannot work to help provide for his family which also brings poverty upon the Boyles.
Even though realism is the main style throughout O’Casey’s play there are mythological elements throughout. The character of Juno Boyle herself portrays this. Juno can be argued as the heroine of the play as she strives to keep her family afloat. In a way Juno reflects the ancient roman goddess of the same name. ‘In classical mythology Juno was the only married wife of Jupiter, the philandering king of the Gods. The peacock was her bird; the eyes on its tail represent the hundred eyes of her messenger, Argus, who spied on her husband’s infidelities.’ (Ayling 503) Even though Jack Boyle is not a philanderer he is mischievous and has an inappropriate with one of the fellow tenants of the tenement, Joxer Daly. Sean O’Casey definitely reflected the Goddess Juno in his character’s traits. Both were seen as protectors of funds, those in confinement and pregnant women. Juno Boyle is seen as the protector of funds as she is in control of the money the family gets. As she is married she cannot work for the money herself however she goes to Murphy’s to borrow money. She is also seen as the protector of those in confinement as living in the tenement is a form of being trapped. She takes particular care of her son Johnny who can’t really leave his home due to his injurys. ‘I don’t know what any o’ [them] ud dop without [their] ma.’ (O’Casey 201) Juno also takes care of her daughter Mary when we find out she has gotten pregnant out of wedlock. She takes her away after she finds out the death of her son. She puts her daughter’s needs before her own and intends never to come back to her house or her Paycock of a husband.
All of the characters in the play want something better and more exciting than the life they are currently living. ‘Captain’ Jack Boyle wants a better quality of life with nice furniture and money to spend on dink with Joxer. When the opportunity arises his first port of call is to by a new suit so he can look like the man he’s always wanted to be. Mary Boyle is not content with Jerry Devine and the life he promised her of living ‘nice an’ cosily on … three hundred and fifty pounds a year.’ (O’Casey 206) She refuses and instead pursues Charles Betham, a schoolteacher who eventually got her pregnant and messed up the will that was to help the Boyle family. The underlying theme of wanting more and wanting a better life is very relatable to the audiences of the play and it also reflects Ireland at the time of the civil war and how men were willing to fight for a better life for Ireland’s people.
Juno and the Paycock was very popular and was greatly received with immediate success as the Irish seen themselves reflected both fairly and with profound empathy within the play. It was Sean O’Casey’s first real financial triumph and the raw emotion seen in the plot could be seen as almost a love letter to his mother. It was the first play in The Abbey Theatre’s history to have a run that lasted two weeks. The realness and rawness of the feelings within the play allowed the audience to connect with it and in J.M. Synge’s views it allowed the drama to grow.
In contrast to Juno and the Paycock, William Butler Yeats’ play At the Hawk’s Well was primarily focused on myth and folklore as well as symbolic and abstract writing. At the Hawks Well features the character of Cuchulain who is a well-known Irish folklore hero primarily found in tales about Ulster and a recurring character in a lot of Yeats’ works.
The main thematic subject in Yeats’ play is searching for eternal life. This mythological plot has been famous in many folklore stories and plays. The play was first performed in 1916 and published in 1917. At the Hawk’s Well only has one act and follows a young man and an old man on their quest to drink from the well as ‘he who drinks, they say, Of that miraculous water lives for ever.’ (Yeats 23).
‘At the Hawks Well was Yeats's first experimental play based on both an Irish saga and the Japanese 'Noh' model. The play is experimental in the sense that it poses a challenge to the linear storyline of realism.’ (Sato 27) Yeats wanted to bring the theatre back to verse and folklore as the audiences of the Abbey only wanted to go to the theatre for light amusement and relief and not to be enthralled in the language of poetry and verse. His play At the Hawks Well was his version of withdrawing and rebelling against populist, realist theatre.
Japanese Noh theatre was brought to Yeats’ attention when he was living with Ezra Pound who was employed by the widow of the late American scholar, Ersnt Fenollosa, to put in order the materials Fenollosa had collected about Japanese Noh theatre. Yeats was obseesed with mysticism and the occult so he was immediately drawn to the Noh Theatre. R. F. Forester while looking at Japenese paintings found ‘delight in form, repeated yet varied’ this can also be used to describe W.B. Yeats dance play as he took his inspiration from Japanese art. ‘At the Hawks Well relies for its scenario on the Noh play Yoro, it is built around familiar themes which evoke Celtic Mythology.’ (Foster 434)
The use of minimal set, masks and intoned music to accompany the play added to the portrayal of the tale Yeats was trying to do. “No naturalistic effect is sought the players wear masks and found their movements on those of puppets. A swift or slow movement and a long or short stillness, then another movement. They sing as much as they speak and there is a chorus which describes the scene and interprets their thought but not part of the action like a Greek chorus. At the climax, there is a dance instead of “a disordered passion of nature” which may represent a battle or marriage. The interest is not in the human form but in the rhythm to which it moves and the triumph of their art is to express the rhythm in its intensity.” (Yeats 230)
Yeats’ play consisted of six different characters, three musicians whose faces were made up to resemble masks, the guardian of the well whose face was also made up to resemble a mask, an old man who wore a mask and a young man who also wore a mask. Each of these characters used the tradition of Noh masks, whether they were real or painted on their faces, to relate to ancient Greek plays where masks were used to help penetrate the deep of the minds of the audiences viewing it. Yeats wanted his play to be as far away from naturalistic as possible. Through Anthony Roches words ‘With the introduction of the Noh, Yeats severed his always tenuous links with naturalism.’
The play is set in the Irish Heroic Age and the play begins as ‘The First musician carries with him a folded black cloth’ (Yeats 20) On the cloth there is a painted gold Art nouveau Hawk. The musicians onstage ritualistically unfold the cloth and then begin to sct as the story tellers for the play. Yeats, as a poet was aware of the power of language and used his words very carefully for their sound. The words of the musicians rhymed with Yeats’ elegant poetic style. ‘What were his life soon done! Would he lose by that or win? A mother that saw her son Doubled over a speckled shin.’ (Yeats 21) This highlighted that the play was distant from realism. He had famously long been obsessed with the power of the voice and spent a long time with the actress Florence Farr working on rhythm and cadences. He also received help from the famous costume and set designer Edmund Dulac and conductor Thomas Beecham to help with the success of his play.
The main form of symbolism and mysticism in this play is The Hawk’s Dance. The dance symbolises the climax of the play. During it the Guardian of the Well distracts both of the men through her Hawk- like motions throughout the dance. Yeats and Michio Ito visited the zoo to watch how the birds moved to work out the dance movements. He wanted this mystical dance to be as real and alike Hawks as possible. This play is a big change in William Butler Yeats’ style as the wordsmith has now used Japanese dance to communicate the tale of the well’s guardian.
The play was well received by those who were able to view it as it was performed to a restricted audience in Lady Cunard’s drawing room in London, April 1916. The fact that the play was not ‘real’ did not falter its reception however Yeats’ made the play only accesable for people from the higher class who were educated as he believed they were th only ones who would appreciate his work.
Realism and mysticism cannot be separated completely from many of the early Irish plays, this includes John Millington Synge’s own Riders to the Sea. Synge was one of the most influential playwrights to come out of the Irish Literary Revival. This play was Synge’s only tragedy and was met with great success. Joseph Holloway, a popular theatre goer at the time of the first performance in 1904, made the observation that ‘everyone seemed profoundly impressed with the weird strange sorrow created by Synge’s gem of sadness.’
Set in the Aran Islands, the one act play focuses on the hopeless struggle of people living on the island against the impersonal relentless cruelty of the sea. In this realistic play, the lives of the people of the Aran Islands is clearly portrayed through both the language and jargon used which belonged to the sailor community of the islands. The sea is also used as a vessel for symbolism as the people are dependent on it for their livelihoods however the sea also brings death due to its uncontrollable nature.
The play is a peasant drama set in the cottage of Mauyra, a grief-stricken widow and mother of eight children. Cathleen, the eldest daughter who tries to keep her mother from dying from grief by identifying her deceased brother Michael's clothing. Nora, Maurya's youngest daughter who helps her sister with their mother and Bartley, the youngest and only living son who dies by the plays end.
Throughout the play there is a morbid realist tone created by Synge. In the play Mauyra’s last living son wants to sail to the mainland to sell horses to gain money for the family however Mauyra does not want to lose another son to the sea. ‘if it was a hundred horses, or a thousand horses you had itself, what is the price of a thousand horses against a son where there is one son only?’ (Synge 60). The want of money to help his family in poverty is a very realist subject and often a recurring one in modern Irish literature as also seen in Juno and the Paycock. However, J. M. Synge also uses the dead and ghosts to add drama and tension to his plays. This could be argued as contradictory to his statement as ghosts and omens are associated with mysticism. ‘Then Bartley came along, and he riding on the red mare with the grey pony behind him. …I seen Michael himself.’ (Synge 64)
In conclusion, I believe that there is room for both ‘a purely fantastic, unmodern, ideal, breezy, spring-dayish, Cuchulainoid National Theatre’ and a completely realist theatre however both are so interlinked and the writers use both real and mystic to portray to the audience what they wish for them to see and feel when viewing their plays. I believe that drama can grow out of both the fundamental realities of life however I also believe it can grow out of the oldest folklore tale. J. M. Synge’s want for the ‘real’ to be portrayed in Irish Theatre is completely understandable and recognisable however the surrealism brought to the theatre by the likes of William Butler Yeats is also needed for theatre to be explored in its full depths.