Abstract
This chapter explores and reassesses the influence of censorship upon Irish theatre from the period of the 1950s through to the early 1970s. It will address complexities in what constituted ‘Irish drama’ versus British drama, and the discrepancy this dichotomy often presented in terms of ‘official’ reception, intervention and sanction. It will also explore radical dramaturgies and character/acting style and form, in providing accountability for the sanctioning of particular plays over others.
During this time, cultural conservativism was in operation within parameters of state-sanctioned censorship. This was primarily in the form of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Ireland and a moral and theocratic censorship and policing of social and cultural acts and also through state ‘official’ censorship, through channels such as the Censorship of Publications Board. This chapter examines a range of case studies in theatre censorship, from the case of J.P. Donleavy’s The Gingerman (1959) to the study of the archival memory of reception of works by Brendan Behan as well as of British playwrights produced in Ireland, including Joe Orton and John Osborne.
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Notes
- 1.
“Oratorio for Holy Week”, Irish Times, 6 March 1943. Dublin Diocesan Archive, XXV/62.
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
In the course of researching this book, I was granted access to the literary papers of J.P. Donleavy while they were still located at the Donleavy home in Co. Westmeath. I am indebted to Bill Dunn for his help and knowledge of the papers in arranging access and in helping my research. The Donleavy papers have since been transferred to the National Library of Ireland.
- 4.
Joe Orton, Orton: The Complete Plays, Introduced by John Lahr (London: Methuen Drama, 1997), 7.
- 5.
Orton (1997, 8–9).
- 6.
Entertaining Mr. Sloane was first produced in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 and transferred to the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre on 29 June 1964.
- 7.
“An Irishman’s Diary”, Irish Times, 11 February 1967, 9.
- 8.
Evening Herald, 14 February 1967, 8.
- 9.
Evening Herald, 14 February 1967, 8.
- 10.
The Anna Manahan papers are located at Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street, Dublin.
- 11.
“Woman of Many Parts in the Theatre”—Interview with Anna Manahan. Irish Press, 17 February 1967. 12.
- 12.
Abbey Theatre. The Shaughraun, 05 Jul 1990 [programme]. Abbey Theatre Digital Archive at National University of Ireland, Galway, 0545_MPG_01, p. 18.
- 13.
The Eblana Theatre was located in the basement of Busáras station in Dublin City. It was used primarily as a theatre space by the Globe Theatre Company and Gemini Productions, which was led by Phyllis Ryan between 1958 and 1995. It seated approximately 225 guests.
- 14.
“Woman of Many Parts”, Irish Press, 17 February 1967, 12.
- 15.
‘Woman’s Protest at Comedy’, Evening Herald, 15 February 1967, 9.
- 16.
Irish Examiner, 18 February 1970, 12.
- 17.
Irish Press, 18 February 1970, 3.
- 18.
Irish Press, 18 February 1970, 3.
- 19.
Orton (1997, 9).
- 20.
Orton (1997, 195).
- 21.
‘Stranger than fiction’, Irish Times, 30 September 1978, 13.
- 22.
Anthony Roche, Contemporary Irish Drama: From Beckett to McGuinness (Dublin, Gill and Macmillan, 1994), 5–6.
- 23.
Roche, 6.
- 24.
Declan Kiberd, After Ireland: Writing the Nation from Beckett to the Present (London: Head of Zeus, 2017), 92.
- 25.
Pilkington, 151.
- 26.
Pilkington, 151.
- 27.
Dublin Diocesan Archive, DDA XXV/64/4.
- 28.
Ibid.
- 29.
Ibid.
- 30.
Jaquarello (2014, 15).
- 31.
Ibid.
- 32.
John Lahr, Prick Up Your Ears (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1978), 15.
- 33.
“Reform Society Queries Powers of Censors”, Irish Independent, 5 December 1966, 8.
- 34.
10813/395 (2) Pike Theatre Papers, Trinity College, Dublin. Letter from T.B. Morris, Tetbury, [Glos], 8 February 1949, in response to Alan Simpson’s letter of interest in We Dig for the Stars for a summer production at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin. The play was first produced at the Experimental Theatre Club, Manchester in March [1949] but as a private non-professional production. The play was officially banned in the United Kingdom by descendants of the Rossetti family. It was originally planned for an Easter production run at the Pike Theatre but was postponed, possibly due to casting issues. For the May production, Fergus Cogley, of the Studio Theatre Club, was drafted in to play the lead role in We Dig for the Stars (Irish Times, 7 April 1955, 6 and 14 May 1955, 11).
- 35.
10813/395 (8) Reply letter from Carolyn Swift, 23 February 1949. Simpson and Swift also pass the script of We Dig for the Stars to Gabriel Fallon, their friend and drama critic at the Catholic newspaper, the Standard, for comment.
- 36.
10812/395 (11) Pike Theatre Papers, Trinity College Dublin. 23 March 1949. The script of We Dig for the Stars is also sent to Cyril Cusack for comment, who would star as Rossetti and also co-produce the play if it went ahead. Cusack’s unavailability is likely why the play was postponed and Cogley drafted in to play Rossetti.
- 37.
10813/395 (14) Letter from Carolyn Swift to T.B. Morris, 25 January 1950, Pike Theatre Papers, Trinity College Dublin.
- 38.
10813/395 (15) Letter from T.B. Morris to Carolyn Swift, 30 January 1950, Pike Theatre Papers, Trinity College Dublin.
- 39.
Ibid., 468.
- 40.
Ibid., 470–447.
- 41.
“Look Back in Anger”, Irish Times, 23 April 1957, 9.
- 42.
Ibid., 9.
- 43.
Letters between Sean O’Casey and George Devine/The Royal Court, MS, 38, 063 Sean O’Casey papers, National Library of Ireland. Ahead of the Royal Court’s third birthday celebrations on the second of April 1959, Harewood notes that John Osborne and Tony Richardson have offered the premiere screening of the film version of Look Back in anger to the Royal Court as recognition and gratitude from Osborne. Harewood invited Sean O’Casey to be on the committee. This screening was to take place between 30 April and 9 May, just before it being shown at Cannes Film Festival.
- 44.
Letter from Alan Simpson to John Osborne, 10 December 1956, 10813/436.
- 45.
Letters between J.P. Donleavy and Alan Simpson, Pike Theatre papers, Trinity College Dublin, November 1958, 10813/106 and 111.
- 46.
Letter from Nolan to McQuaid, Dublin Diocesan Archive, XXV/70/1 (69). 16 October 1960.
- 47.
“The Ginger Man at Sixty”, The Irish Times, 17 July 2005, https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/jp-donleavy-s-the-ginger-man-at-60-1.2287489, Accessed 14 August 2018.
- 48.
“JP Donleavy’s The Ginger Man at 60”, The Irish Times, http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/jp-donleavy-s-the-ginger-man-at-60-1.2287489, Accessed 17 July 2015.
- 49.
Harold Hobson review from the Sunday Times, quoted on play handbill, The Gingerman, J.P. Donleavy Papers, Donleavy Estate.
- 50.
“Festival Forum at Wexford”, Irish Times, 2 November 1959, 6.
- 51.
Ibid.
- 52.
“No Censorship on ‘Ideas’ or Politics”, Irish Times, 12 November 1959, 1.
- 53.
Ibid.
- 54.
Ibid.
- 55.
Ibid.
- 56.
The Ginger Man, J.P. Donleavy, in “J.P. Donleavy, The Plays (Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1974), 59.
- 57.
Ibid.
- 58.
Grene (2014, 9).
- 59.
Beckett’s play was originally written in French (titled Fin de Partie). Beckett himself translated it into English. The play was first performed in a French-language production at the Royal Court Theatre in London, opening on 3 April 1957.
- 60.
Grene (2014, 10).
- 61.
Ibid., 60.
- 62.
Ibid.
- 63.
Ibid., 61.
- 64.
Ibid., 62.
- 65.
Ibid., 62–63.
- 66.
Ibid., 64.
- 67.
Ibid., 66.
- 68.
Ibid., 66.
- 69.
Ibid., 75.
- 70.
Ibid., 77.
- 71.
Ibid., 78.
- 72.
Alfred Jarry, Selected Works of Alfred Jarry, edited and translated by Roger Shattuck and Simon Watson-Taylor (London: Methuen and Co., 1965). 83.
- 73.
Ibid., 83–84.
- 74.
John Osborne, Look Back in Anger and Other Plays (London, Faber and Faber, 1993), 6.
- 75.
Ibid., 21.
- 76.
Ibid., 21.
- 77.
Donleavy (1974, 84).
- 78.
Ibid., 86.
- 79.
Ibid., 87.
- 80.
Article 41.2 of the Constitution prioritises a woman’s domestic role over work. It reads: “The State recognises that that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved … The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”
- 81.
Donleavy (1974, 90).
- 82.
Ibid., 93.
- 83.
Ibid., 109.
- 84.
Ibid., 121.
- 85.
Ibid., p. 131.
- 86.
Joan F. Dean, Riot and Great Anger: Stage Censorship in Twentieth-Century Ireland (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), 148.
- 87.
“London Letter”, Irish Times, 2 November 1959, 4.
- 88.
“Guards for new play about the Irish”, Irish Times, 15 September 1959, 6.
- 89.
“An Irishwoman’s Diary”, Irish Times, 2 November 1959, 9.
- 90.
Deane (2004, 148–149).
- 91.
Ibid., 165.
- 92.
“Gaiety Play Withdrawn”, Irish Times, 29 October 1959, 1.
- 93.
Ibid.
- 94.
“The Ginger Man at the Gaiety Theatre, the Irish Times, 27 October 1959, 4.
- 95.
“Where is the Ginger Man?” Norman Fruchter, The New Left Review, March–April 1961. https://newleftreview.org/I/8/norman-fruchter-where-is-the-ginger-man, Accessed 14 October 2016.
- 96.
Ibid.
- 97.
Ibid.
- 98.
“Only for the moment am I saying nothing”: An interview with J.P. Donleavy, Thomas E. Kennedy. The Literary Review. Vol. 40, No. 4, 1997. 660.
- 99.
Letter to Archbishop McQuaid, 29 October 1959, Dublin Diocesan Archive, XXV/69/2.
- 100.
Cassin (2012, 50).
- 101.
Letter from Richard Harris to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, 30 October 1959. DDA XXV/69/5.
- 102.
Letter from Richard Harris to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, 30 October 1959. DDA XXV/69/5.
- 103.
Letter from Gerard Nolan S.J. to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, 30 October 1959. DDA XXV/69/6.
- 104.
The planned production of O’Casey’s The Drums of Father Ned and an adaptation of Joyce’s Ulysses at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 1958, were dropped owing to the Archbishop withdrawing from a ceremonial mass to be performed and which led to the eventual postponement of the Festival. In the previous year, 1957, one of the most infamous of all acts of Church-led censorship upon Irish theatre, the case of The Rose Tattoo at the Pike Theatre, directed by Alan Simpson, led to the personal breakdown of the Pike Theatre and major reputational damage to Dublin and Ireland as a centre of world drama.
- 105.
Report on The Ginger Man, Dublin Diocesan Archive. XXV/69/1, 1.
- 106.
Report on The Ginger Man prepared by Gerard Nolan S.J. October 1959. DDA XXV/69/11 (49).
- 107.
[Irish Independent] Dublin Diocesan Archive, XXV/69/19.
- 108.
Donleavy admitted he was “shattered and shocked” but not surprised that Ireland’s conservative Catholicism enforced closure of the play on grounds of blasphemy: “There is a terrible amount of confusion between the cast, myself and the management … I thought there might be trouble with the play in Dublin but I did not think it would lead to this.” “Ginger Man off after three nights”, Daily Mail [29 November 1959] Dublin Diocesan Archive, xxv/69/15.
- 109.
“Archbishop will not see Ginger Man actor”, Sunday Express, 1 November 1959. Dublin Diocesan Archive, XXV/69/173 C.
- 110.
Letter from Louis Elliman to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid. 1 December 1958, Dublin Diocesan Archive. XXV/69/16.
- 111.
“Ginger Man actor for nursing home”, Irish Times, 9 November 1959, Dublin Diocesan Archive, XXV/69/21.
- 112.
“Some Thoughts on The Ginger Man”, [1971], Alan Simpson Papers, James Hardiman Library NUI Galway. 1.
- 113.
Ian R. Walsh, Experimental Irish Theatre After Yeats (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 164.
- 114.
Simpson (1971, 3).
- 115.
Simpson (1971, 3).
- 116.
Simpson (1971, 4).
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Houlihan, B. (2021). Radical Dramaturgies: Censorship and Dramatic Expression. In: Theatre and Archival Memory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74548-6_5
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