''The Silver Tassie'' is a four-act
Expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it r ...
play about the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, written between 1927 and 1928 by the Irish playwright
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.
...
. It was O'Casey's fourth play and attacks
imperialist
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
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 few windows. I don't think it makes a good play, but it's a remarkable one."
Plot
An antiwar play in four acts, focusing on Harry Heegan, a soldier who goes to war as if going to a football match.
*Act 1 : The opening presents Harry in the prime of life, as an athletic hero, but unaware of the possibilities and values of life.
*Act 2 is a sudden change of tempo, being an experiment with expressionist and symbolic theater. Set at the battlefront it unexpectedly concentrates on the cynicism and despair of the common soldier at the front lines.
*Act 3 portrays the bitterness of the veterans in a veterans’ hospital
*Act 4 contrasts the grim plight of the disabled Harry Heegan with the vitality of those who were not combatants and have normal lives and futures to anticipate.
The play's study of Harry’s loss of many of his life’s hopes during and after the war marks it as unusual.
Production history
In 1928,
W. B. Yeats rejected the play for the
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the pu ...
in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
. It premièred at the
Apollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London. in the
West End of London on 11 October 1929. It was directed by
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor, known for his commanding, stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Amo ...
and starred
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future w ...
and
Barry Fitzgerald
William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 – 14 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. In a career spanning almost forty years, he appeared in such notable films as '' Bringing Up B ...
. The set design for act two was by
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...
. It ran for twenty-six performances.
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
and
Lady Gregory
Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (''née'' Persse; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatr ...
were both great admirers of the production.
Its Irish première was on 12 August 1935 at the Abbey Theatre, directed by
Arthur Shields, though it ran for only five performances. Despite being popular, the controversy it caused led to O'Casey's permanent departure from Ireland.
The first major production in England was by the RSC at the Aldwych Theatre, London, directed by David Jones, which opened on 10 September 1969 with Richard Moore as Harry Heegan.
More recent productions include a 1990 production at the Abbey Theatre directed by Patrick Mason, a 1995 production at the
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a di ...
, a 2010 tour of Ireland (along with performances in
The Lowry
The Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex at Salford Quays, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th-century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England. The complex op ...
in Manchester and the
Oxford Playhouse
Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F.G.M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum.
History
The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road, North Oxfor ...
) by the
Druid Theatre Company. and a 2014 production at London's
National Theatre.
Adaptations
Mark Anthony Turnage adapted the play as an opera
under the same title in 1999.
The Druid Theatre Company adapted the play as part of the 2010 Dublin Theatre Festival starring Aaron Monaghan as Harry Heegan.
See also
*
List of plays with anti-war themes
References
Sources
* Quinn, Edward. 2006. ''A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms.'' 2nd, rev. ed. New York: Facts on File. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver Tassie, The
1929 plays
Expressionist plays
Plays by Seán O'Casey
West End plays
Plays about World War I