Abbey Theatre

The Abbey Theatre, also known as the National Theatre of Ireland, is located in Dublin, in Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December, 1904 and, despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has continued to stage performances more or less continuously to the present day. The Abbey was the first state-subsidised theatre in the English-speaking world; from 1925 onwards it received an annual subsidy from the Irish Free State.

Before the Abbey

The founding of the Abbey was the result of the coming together of three distinct forces. The first of these was the failed Irish Literary Theatre. Founded by Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and W.B.Yeats in 1899 - with assistance by George Moore - this theatre had presented a number of plays in the Antient Concert Rooms and the Gaiety Theatre, to little public praise.

Related Topics:
Irish Literary Theatre - Lady Gregory - Edward Martyn - W.B.Yeats - 1899 - George Moore - Antient Concert Rooms - Gaiety Theatre

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The second thread was the work of two Irish brothers, William and Frank Fay. William worked for a time in the 1890s with a touring company in Ireland, Scotland and Wales while Frank was heavily involved in amateur dramatics in Dublin. After William returned, the brothers began to stage productions in halls around the city. Finally, they formed W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company, focused on the development of Irish acting talent. In April, 1902, the Fays gave three performances of Æ's play Deirdre and Yeats' Cathleen Ní Houlihan in a hall in St Theresa's Hall, Clarendon Street in Dublin. The performances played to a mainly working-class audience, rather than the usual middle-class Dublin theatre-goers. The run was a great success, thanks in part to the fact that Maud Gonne played the lead in Yeats' play.

Related Topics:
William - Frank Fay - 1890s - Scotland - Wales - W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company - April - 1902 - Æ's

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The third and final element was the presence in Dublin of Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman. Horniman was a middle-class Englishwoman with some previous experience of theatre production, having been involved in the presentation of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man in London in 1894. She came to Dublin in 1903 as Yeats' unpaid secretary and to make costumes for a production of his play The King's Threshold. It was her money that was to make the Abbey Theatre a viable reality.

Related Topics:
Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman - Englishwoman - George Bernard Shaw - London - 1894 - 1903

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