Peacock Theatre

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 288, 25 February 1928, Page 22

Peacock Theatre

New Enterprise In Dublin For Young Writers EXPERIMENTAL PLAYS TO BE TRIED OUT The Abbey Theatre, Dublin, has taken a new line. Up to now it has contented itself with producing plays and discovering actors. Now it has evolved a subsidiary playhouse, to which it has given what may seem to be the rather arrogant name of “The Peacock.” The title, however, owes its origin to the colour scheme

of blues and greens adopted for the new house, which, far from flaunting itself pridefully, is really a very modest venture. Even among little theatres, the Peacock would rank as a bantling. Its total seating capacity amounts to no more than 102, and it is a tight fit to pack half a dozen actors at a time upon its tiny stage. The new house is intended to serve a double purpose. In the first place, it will enable Irish dramatists of the younger school to try out plays on their own account which the Abbey oirectors for some reason or another are unwilling to produce. Thus, at a minimum of expense, novices will have the opportunity of appealing to Caesar, if Caesar in the shape of the public can be mustered to pronounce a verdict; and in addition, it is hoped, though knowing the nature of playwrights one is doubtful on this point, that the test of actual production may convince them that their pieces were rejected for their shortcomings and not, as most aspirants firmly believe, for their virtues. Anyway, if authors do not hasten to acclaim the superior wisdom of the Abbey readers, they cannot fail to learn a good deal should they have the enterprise to use the Peacock as it is intended it should be used. The second object of the theatre is to give scope for the performance of experimental plays which are outside often urged that the directors, if barred by the terms of their patent from producing English plays, might give more attention to continental dramatists of the newer schools. Though one or two ventures of this kind have been undertaken, the settled policy of the theatre is to confine its programme as strictly as possible to the work of native writers.

Synge in the early days of the Abbey maintained that this was the only hope of establishing an Irish dramatic school in the real sense, and though W. B. Yeats was at first opposed to this view, experience, he says, has shown him that it is absolutely sound. Stage presentation has been enormously improved by the efforts of noncommercial theatres which have concentrated upon the production of the work of existing dramatists, but Mr. Yeats holds that the Abbey policy has led to more fruitful results in that it has brought into existence a popular drama, racy of the soil. Hitherto in. Dublin the staging of modern plays by continental writers has been undertaken by the Drama League, which as a rule engaged the Abbey Company for its performance. Naturally, the league was hampered by the fact that it could give only occasional shows at such times as the Abbey was vacant- Also, there is a strong section of its members anxious to act and produce pieces for themselves These enthusiasts, under the title of the New Players, are arranging a series of productions at the Peacock, and they made a very creditable start with George Kaiser’s expressionist tragedy, “From Morn to Midnight.” The play itself is not very impressive and the tragedy tends to topple over into burlesque. but its swift changes of scene were a severe test of the resources of the new theatre from which it emerged successfully. There are complaints that the Abbey no longer takes heroic risks, and prefers to play for safety. It is quess

tionable if this is as much the fault of its directors as of the failure of playwrights to come forward. Though a fair number of new plays have been staged of recent years, these? have been for the most part the work of writers who have already made their mark, and, with the exception of Sean O’Casey, a host in himself, there have been few promising recruits. The explanation may be that in Ireland up to this it has been easier to live drama than to write it. Now that the country has resumed its normal ways it is permissible to hope that emotion remembered in tranquility will enable Irish dramatists to provide the Abbey with a crop of new masterpieces.