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The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats, Vol. 4 (of 8) / The Hour-glass. Cathleen ni Houlihan. The Golden Helmet. The Irish Dramatic Movement cover

The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats, Vol. 4 (of 8) / The Hour-glass. Cathleen ni Houlihan. The Golden Helmet. The Irish Dramatic Movement

Chapter 36: APPENDIX IV DATES AND PLACES OF THE FIRST PERFORMANCE OF NEW PLAYS PRODUCED BY THE NATIONAL THEATRE SOCIETY AND ITS PREDECESSORS:—
By W. B. Yeats
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About This Book

A compact collection of three short plays and a companion essay that fuse mythic and folkloric material with symbolic, often ritualized stagecraft. The dramas set emblematic figures and uncanny events against debates between skepticism and belief, testing duty, sacrifice, and the imagination through lyrical dialogue and staged tableaux. The essay articulates principles for a theatrical revival grounded in native tradition and poetic form, while appendices supply production notes and textual background to aid performance and interpretation.

APPENDIX IV

DATES AND PLACES OF THE FIRST PERFORMANCE OF NEW PLAYS PRODUCED BY THE NATIONAL THEATRE SOCIETY AND ITS PREDECESSORS:—

1899.
Irish Literary Theatre at Antient Concert Rooms.
May 8th.   The Countess Cathleen, by W. B. Yeats.
May 9th.   The Heather Field, by Edward Martyn.
 
1900.
Irish Literary Theatre at the Gaiety Theatre.
Feb. 19th.   The Last Feast of the Fianna, by Alice Milligan.
Maeve, by Edward Martyn.
Feb. 20th.   The Bending of the Bough, by George Moore.
1901.
Oct. 21st.   Diarmuid and Grania, by W. B. Yeats and George Moore.
  The Twisting of the Rope, by Douglas Hyde (first Gaelic play produced in a theatre).
 
1902.
Mr. W. G. Fay’s
Irish National Dramatic Company
at St. Teresa’s Hall, Clarendon Street.
April 2nd.   Deirdre, by ‘A.E.’
Cathleen ni Houlihan, by W. B. Yeats.
 
Irish National Dramatic Company
at Antient Concert Rooms.
Oct. 29th.   The Sleep of the King, by Seumas O’Cuisin.
The Laying of the Foundations, by Fred Ryan.
Oct. 30th.   A Pot of Broth, by W. B. Yeats.
Oct. 31st.   The Racing Lug, by Seumas O’Cuisin.
 
1903.
Irish National Theatre Society, Molesworth Hall.
March 14th.   The Hour-Glass, by W. B. Yeats.
Twenty-five, by Lady Gregory.
Oct. 8th.   The King’s Threshold, by W. B. Yeats.
In the Shadow of the Glen, by J. M. Synge.
Dec. 3rd.   Broken Soil, by P. Colm.
 
1904.
Jan. 14th.   The Shadowy Waters, by W. B. Yeats.
The Townland of Tamney, by Seumas MacManus.
Feb. 25th.   Riders to the Sea, by J. M. Synge.
 
Irish National Theatre Society at the Abbey Theatre.
Dec. 27th.   On Baile’s Strand, by W. B. Yeats.
Spreading the News, by Lady Gregory.
 
1905.
Feb. 4th.   The Well of the Saints, by J. M. Synge.
March 25th.   Kincora, by Lady Gregory.
April 25th.   The Building Fund, by William Boyle.
June 9th.   The Land, by P. Colm.
 
National Theatre Society, Ltd.
Dec. 9th.   The White Cockade, by Lady Gregory.
 
1906.
Jan. 20th.   The Eloquent Dempsey, by William Boyle.
Feb. 19th.   Hyacinth Halvey, by Lady Gregory.
Oct. 20th.   The Gaol Gate, by Lady Gregory.
The Mineral Workers, by William Boyle.
Nov. 24th.   Deirdre, by W. B. Yeats.
Dec. 8th.   The Shadowy Waters (new version), by W. B. Yeats.
The Canavans, by Lady Gregory.
 
1907.
Jan. 26th.   The Playboy of the Western World, by J. M. Synge.
Feb. 23rd.   The Jackdaw, by Lady Gregory.
March 9th.   Rising of the Moon, by Lady Gregory.
April 1st.   The Eyes of the Blind, by Miss W. M. Letts.
April 3rd.   The Poorhouse, by Lady Gregory and Douglas Hyde.
April 27th.   Fand, by Wilfred Scawen Blunt.
Oct. 3rd.   The Country Dressmaker, by George Fitzmaurice.
Oct. 31st.   Dervorgilla, by Lady Gregory.
The Canavans (new version), by Lady Gregory.
Nov. 21st.   The Unicorn from the Stars, by Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats.
 
1908.
Feb. 15th.   The Man who Missed the Tide, by W. F. Casey.
The Piper, by Norreys Connell.
March 19th.   The Pie-dish, by George Fitzmaurice.
The Golden Helmet, by W. B. Yeats.
April 20th.   The Workhouse Ward, by Lady Gregory.

In addition to these plays, many of which are constantly revived, translations of foreign masterpieces are given occasionally.

It was not until the opening of the Abbey Theatre that Lady Gregory, Mr. J. M. Synge, and Mr. W. B. Yeats became entirely responsible for the selection of plays, though they had been mainly so from 1903.

Corrigenda.—P. 120, l. 5, for ‘severe’ read ‘serious’; p. 143, l. 4, for ‘prepared’ read ‘performed’; p. 176, l. 29, for ‘their own day’ read ‘our own day.’