The Irish Literary Theatre

Irish Times, 13 February 1905, page 5, 539 words

[Letter to the Editor]

Sir, — I should like to call the attention of the readers of the Irish Times to an important event which has just happened in Dublin, and which very likely may be overlooked by them and to their great regret hereafter. The event I allude to is of exceeding rarity. It happens occasionally in Paris. I have never seen in London any play written originally in English that I can look upon as dramatic literature. I have not forgotten Oscar Wilde’s plays — that delicious comedy “The Importance of Being Earnest,” but however much I admire them I cannot forget that their style is derived from that of the Restoration comedy, whereas Mr. Synge’s little play seems to me to be of a new growth. Its apparent orthodoxy reminds us of the painters who worked in the latter half of the 15th century. Filippo Lippi and Botticelli did not accept religious superstitions as easily as the monk of Fiesole. There are other points of comparison between Mr. Synge’s writings and these pictures, but I must reserve my explanation for another occasion. In your paper I would call attention to the abundance and the beauty of the dialogue, to the fact that one listens to it as one listens to music, charmed by the inevitableness of the words and the ease with which phrase is linked into phrase. At every moment the dialogue seems to lose itself, but it finds its way out. Mr. Synge has discovered great literature in barbarous idiom as gold is discovered in quartz, and to do such a thing is surely a rare literary achievement.

The interpretation partakes of the literary quality, it is original and it is like itself. Mr. W. Fay was wholly admirable as the blind beggar, he was whimsical and insolent, and pathetic in turn; he was always in the key, and his love scene with Molly Byrne seemed to me a little triumph of distinguished acting. The close of the act was especially effective in intonation and in gesture. Mr. Frank Fay was very good as the saint; the part is a difficult one, and the ecclesiastical note might not have been caught as well by another actor. The part of the blind beggar woman was so well played by Miss Vernon that I am afraid I shall regret having spoken of it, for I shall not find words wherewith to praise it enough. Above all I admired her reticence, and it seemed to me that she must have thought the part out from end to end, omitting nothing that might be included, including nothing that might be omitted. The age of the old woman is portrayed in every gesture, the walk and the bodily stiffness, and something of the mind of an old woman, for in her voice there is a certain mental stiffness. Her elocution was faultless. Some will say that she was not effective enough when she left the church, but I do not share this opinion, I think in seeking to be effective she would have been less true. — Yours, &c.,

GEORGE MOORE.

4 Upper Ely place, Dublin,

February 8th, 1905.