No More Learning

THE DATES AND PLACES OF PERFORMANCE OF PLAYS.


_The King's Threshold_ was first played October 7th, 1903, in the
Molesworth Hall, Dublin, by the Irish National Theatre Society, and
with the following cast:

Seanchan FRANK FAY
King Guaire P. KELLY
Lord High Chamberlain SEUMUS O'SULLIVAN
Soldier WILLIAM CONROY
Monk S. SHERIDAN-NEILL
Mayor WILLIAM FAY
A Cripple PATRICK COLUM
A Court Lady HONOR LAVELLE
Another Court Lady DORA MELVILLE
A Princess SARA ALGOOD
Another Princess DORA GUNNING
Fedelm MAIRE NI SHIUBHLAIGH
A Servant P. MACSHIUBHLAIGH
Another Servant P. JOSEPHS
A Pupil G. ROBERTS
Another Pupil CARTIA MACCORMAC

It has been revised a good many times since then, and although the play
has not been changed in the radical structure, the parts of the Mayor,
Servant, and Cripple are altogether new, and the rest is altered here
and there. It was written when our Society was beginning its fight for
the recognition of pure art in a community of which one half is buried
in the practical affairs of life, and the other half in politics and a
propagandist patriotism.

_On Baile's Strand_ was first played, in a version considerably
different from the present, on December 27th, 1904, at the opening of
the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and with the following cast:

Cuchulain FRANK FAY
Conchubar GEORGE ROBERTS
Daire (_an old King not now in the play_) G. MACDONALD
The Blind Man SEUMUS O'SULLIVAN
The Fool WILLIAM FAY
The Young Man P. MACSHIUBHLAIGH

The old and young kings were played by the following: R. Nash, A.
Power, U. Wright, E. Keegan, Emma Vernon, Dora Gunning, Sara Algood.
It
was necessary to put women into men's parts owing to the smallness of
our company at that time.

The play was revived by the National Theatre Society, Ltd. , in a
somewhat altered version at Oxford, Cambridge, and London a few months
later. I then entirely rewrote it up to the entrance of the Young
Man, and changed it a good deal from that on to the end, and this new
version was played at the Abbey Theatre for the first time in April,
1906.

The first version of _The Shadowy Waters_ was first performed on
January 14th, 1904, in the Molesworth Hall, Dublin, with the following
players in the principal parts:

Forgael FRANK FAY
Aibric SEUMUS O'SULLIVAN
Dectora MAIRE NI SHIUBHLAIGH

Its production was an accident, for in the first instance I had given
it to the company that they might have some practice in the speaking of
my sort of blank verse until I had a better play finished. It played
badly enough from the point of view of any ordinary playgoer, but
pleased many of my friends; and as I had been in America when it was
played, I got it played again privately, and gave it to Miss Farr for
a Theosophical Convention, that I might discover how to make a better
play of it. I then completely rewrote it in the form that it has in the
text of this book, but this version had once again to be condensed
and altered for its production in Dublin, 1906. Mr. Sinclair took the
part of Aibric, and Miss Darragh that of Dectora, while Mr. Frank Fay
was Forgael as before. It owed a considerable portion of what success
it met with both in its new and old form to a successful colour scheme
and to dreamy movements and intonations on the part of the players. The
scenery for its performance in 1906 was designed by Mr. Robert Gregory.

_Deirdre_ was first played at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on November
27th, 1906, with Miss Darragh as Deirdre, Mr. Frank Fay as Naisi, Mr.
Sinclair as Fergus, Mr.