‘Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance’ and ‘Ars Longa, Vita Brevis’

Abstract

It is impossible in a volume this size to give a detailed analysis of the whole body of Arden’s work. It is also impossible, with a living and working writer, to make a selection of the ‘best’ plays, or those most likely to endure. In this and the next chapter are analyses of four plays which I have chosen to represent his special quality on the following grounds: they span the full extent of his career to date; they include two written alone, and two with D’Arcy; they are very different from one another, in style, length, and in terms of the production they have received. Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance, for example, has been successfully interpreted in many ways, as I hope to show; The Island of the Mighty has been fraught with problems; Ars Longa, Vita Brevis has attracted amateurs and professionals, and I intend to deal with it in terms of my own experience in directing the play; Pearl shows Arden working successfully in a different medium, that of radio.

The eyes she borrowed from me

She returned to me once more

And I see a whole great waterscape

I never saw before.

(John Arden, The Young Woman from Ireland)