John Millington Synge

John Millington Synge (April 16, 1871 - March 24, 1909) was an Irish dramatist, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival and was one of the cofounders of the Abbey Theatre. He is best known for the play The Playboy of the Western World, which caused riots in Dublin during its opening run at the Abbey.

The Playboy riots and after

When the Abbey was set up, Synge was appointed literary advisor to the theatre and soon became one of the directors of the company, along with Yeats and Lady Gregory. His next play, The Well of the Saints was staged at the theatre in 1905, again to nationalist disapproval, and again in 1906 at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin.

Related Topics:
1905 - 1906 - Deutsches Theater - Berlin

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The play that is widely regarded as Synge's masterpiece, The Playboy of the Western World, was first performed in the Abbey in January 1907. This comedy centring round a story of apparent parricide also attracted a hostile public reaction. Egged on by nationalists, including Griffith, who believed that the theatre was not sufficiently political and described the play as 'a vile and inhuman story told in the foulest language we have ever listened to from a public platform', and with the pretext of a perceived slight on the virtue of Irish womanhood in the line 'a drift of females standing in their shifts' (a shift being a female undergarment), a significant portion of the crowd rioted, causing the remainder of the play to be acted out in dumbshow. Yeats returned from Scotland to address the crowd on the second night, famously declaring 'You have disgraced yourself again, is this to be the recurring celebration of the arrival of Irish genius?' and decided to call in the police. Press opinion soon turned against the rioters and the protests petered out.

Related Topics:
January - 1907 - Parricide - Scotland

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The Tinker's Wedding was completed in 1907 and performed in London in 1909. That same year, he got engaged to the Abbey actress Molly Allgood. Synge died at the Elpis Nursing Home in Dublin. His Poems and Translations was published by the Cuala Press on April 4 with a preface by Yeats. Yeats and Molly Allgood completed Synge's unfinished final play, Deirdre of the Sorrows, and it was presented by the Abbey players in January, 1910 with Allgood in the lead role.

Related Topics:
1907 - 1909 - Molly Allgood - Cuala Press - April 4 - 1910

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