Michael Mac Liammoir in "The Old Lady says No"
Grace Plunkett.
[graphic] /
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| Summary: | This Denis Johnston play was originally entitled 'Shadowdance' and was submitted to the Abbey Theatre, however Yeats returned it to Johnston with 'The Old Lady Says 'No!'' [referring to Lady Gregory] scrawled on it. Johnston re-titled it and sent it to the Gate Theatre. It was first produced by Hilton Edwards-Michael Mac Liammóir Gate Theatre Productions on the Peacock Stage on 3 July 1929, [as the Gate Theatre did not to move into its own building until early 1930]. The scene of the play opens on the night of the 25 August 1803 in the garden of 'The Priory', Rathfarnham, the home of John Philpot Curran. The play takes place in the mind of an actor who is playing the role of Robert Emmet in a traditional patriotic drama; however he is knocked unconscious by accident and in his reverie he imagines he is Robert Emmet, walking the streets of modern-day Dublin. Yeats's heroine Cathleen Ní Houlihan, the symbol of Ireland, is transformed into a foul-mouthed flower seller (depicted here in the drawing on the steps of the statue of Henry Grattan). The play parodies the sentimental martyrdoms in Irish literature, with the actor/Robert Emmet fighting the very people he would redeem. |
| Format: | Prints & Drawings |
| Language: | English |
| Published / Created: |
1929.
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| Notes: | Inscribed in manuscript hand in pencil on verso of drawing is: "M. Mac Liammoir in "Old Lady Says No" [sic] by Denis Johnston. 1929 Peacock & Gate. (Statue is H. Grattan)". Physical description: 1 drawing : ink ; 51.7 x 35 cm.. more |