The Abbey Theatre: Ireland's National Theatre: The First 100 Years

Former Abbey artistic director and literary manager Fitz-Simon lets pictures do much of the talking in this thorough centennial tribute to one of Dublin's most prestigious theaters. Some 179 illustrations, mostly production photos, richly capture work that has defined the Abbey Theatre since its 1904 grassroots beginning. At that time, when Ireland was still under Great Britain's rule, the theater's founders, who included poet W.B. Yeats, vowed to stage serious Irish plays. Although occasionally wordy and stilted, Fitz-Simon's chronology impressively demonstrates the correlation between this national theatre and its nation's identity, as well as the conflicts that arose when the two clashed. Early premieres like J.M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World and Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars proved groundbreaking but caused audience uprisings. While not as controversial, contemporary playwrights such as Hugh Leonard, Frank McGuinness and Dancing at Lughnasa scribe Brian Friel have also portrayed national politics and social conditions at the Abbey. But the first 30 years of the theater had so much offstage drama--war-induced economic woes, extensive management squabbles, lambasting from devout Catholics--that later disputes seem comparatively minor. The early years are also more engaging visually. Since there are fewer photos of that period, a greater variety of illustrations, including posters, caricatures and newspaper clippings, is employed. Fitz-Simon inflates the Abbey's overall impact when he writes that since its inception, almost all of Irish theater's great plays have originated there. But, overall, this is an astute history, especially for theatre aficionados and Irish history buffs, who will enjoy catching a young Liam Neeson in a couple of photos.