#OTD in 1964 – Death of Brendan Behan, an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English.

20/03/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

He was also a committed Irish Republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army. He died in Meath hospital after reportedly telling a nun looking after him: ‘Ah, bless you, Sister, may all your sons be bishops’. Brendan Behan was born in Dublin into a republican family, and became a member of the IRA’s youth […]

#OTD in 1852 – Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory (née Persse), playwright, folklorist and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, is born in Roxborough, Co Galway.

15/03/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Lady Gregory was a dramatist, folklorist and theatre director; also a co-founder of the Abbey Theatre. George Bernard Shaw once described Lady Augusta Gregory as ‘the greatest living Irishwoman’. Lady Gregory, also known as Isabella Augusta, was born in Roxborough, Co Galway. She married Sir William Henry Gregory in 1880. Sir Gregory owned an estate […]

#OTD in 1923 – Birth of poet and playwright, Brendan Behan, in Dublin.

09/02/2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

Much of Brendan Behan’s work was autobiographical, showcasing working class, Republican Dublin. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Irish writers and poets of all time. Born in Dublin into a republican family, he became a member of the IRA’s youth organisation Fianna Éireann at the age of fourteen. However, there was also […]

#OTD in 1860 – Birth of playwright, folklorist, founder of The Gaelic League and the first president of Éire, Douglas Hyde, in Castlerea, Co Roscommon.

17/01/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

“As our language wanes and dies, the golden legends of the far-off centuries fade and pass away. No one sees their influence upon culture; no one sees their educational power.” –Douglas Hyde Douglas Hyde is born at Longford House in Castlerea, Co Roscommon. He was an ardent supporter of the Irish language and was one […]

#OTD in 1972 – Death of Longford poet and playwright, Padraic Colum. He was one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival.

11/01/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Padraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Celtic Revival. Colum wrote and met a number of the leading Irish writers of the time, including W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and Æ. He also joined the Gaelic League and was a […]

#OTD in 1929 – Brian Friel, playwright and author of Dancing at Lughnasa, is born near Omagh, Co Tyrone.

09/01/2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

“It is not the literal past, the ‘facts’ of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.” –Brian Friel When asked why he had two birth certificates, one dated 9 January 1929 and the other 10 January, the Irish playwright Brian Friel, replied: ‘Perhaps I’m twins.’ Originally from Tyrone, Friel moved […]

#OTD in 1900 – Death of playwright, novelist, and poet, Oscar Wilde, in Paris.

30/11/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Oscar Wilde was an Irish author, playwright and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death. […]

#OTD in 1854 – Birth of playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, Oscar Wilde, in Dublin.

16/10/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

‘The Silver Tassie’ by Sean O’Casey

23/09/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

The Silver Tassie is a four-act Expressionist play about the First World War, written between 1927 and 1928 by playwright, Seán O’Casey. It was O’Casey’s fourth play and attacks imperialist wars and the suffering that they cause. O’Casey described the play as “A generous handful of stones, aimed indiscriminately, with the aim of breaking a […]

#OTD in 1964 – Death of dramatist and memoirist, Sean O’Casey, in England. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.

18/09/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Born John Casey, in Dublin, O’Casey had a strong interest in the Irish nationalist cause. He joined the Gaelic League in 1906 and learned the Irish language. At this time, he Gaelicised his name from John Casey to Seán Ó Cathasaigh. He also learned to play the Uilleann pipes and was a founder and secretary […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: playwright