[A LETTER FROM DUBLIN.] [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—If Dublin ranks intellectually as a European capital, we must thank the Abbey Theatre and Dr. W. B. Yeats's production of Oedipus the King. At first blush it might be thought impossible to stage a spacious classical tragedy in such a little theatre as the Abbey, but the thing was triumphantly achieved. The first solemn strophes of the chanting, rendered by the best lay liturgical singers in Dublin, ever a musical city, keyed us to high expectation.
We were not disappointed. In prose as plain and sweet as Bunyan's the Sophoelean drama was unfolded ; the diction was so simple that for all its beauty it never broke the concentration of the audience. Oedipus was played by Mr. P. J. McCormick so wonderfully that Dublin may be said to have discovered another dramatic genius. Again and again Mr. McCormick was recalled : it was his night : and his fellow-actors, the producer (Mr. Lennox Robinson), and Dr. Yeats unanimously accorded to him all the laurels. It is permissible, however, to speak now of Miss Eileen Crowe's fine Jocasta. The moment when Jocasta, as the fatal dis- closure is made, shrouds her face in horror, and stares above the veil at Oedipus, on whom the truth is dawning, will never be forgotten by any who saw the play.
I hear that Dr. Yeats has Oedipus at Colonus ready for rehearsal, and there are hopes that the final play of the trilogy also will be given at the Abbey. Meanwhile, Lady Gregory has a play about Don Quixote awaiting production. Her Would-Be Gentleman, a free rendering from Moliere, was one of the biggest recent successes at the Abbey, and her version of Le Mediein malgre Lai has gone into Irish, and will be staged next week, by the Gaelic Players. Mr. O'Neill's The Emperor Jones is promised for the present season.
What are we to make of this tendency at the Abbey to stage ancient and modern classics, in native renderings indeed, but remote from the early ambitions of the Theatre ? It is gratifying that such good fare can draw crowded houses ; but what has become of the early hope of making the heroes of Irish epic and saga familiar once again to the imagination of the race ? Are we to blame the public for taking but a sparing interest in Seanchan at the King's threshold, and the boy hero of folklore in quest of the golden apple ; or must we suspect that our elder writers have begun to weary of Gaelic themes, having worked out their vein of inspiration ? There is excitement, and perhaps some anxiety, tot:el:in. the pending report of the Free State Banking Commissio,, on the question of a Free State currency. The prospett that very shortly the Free State pound, or rather punt, win be quoted on the exchanges, raises issues too large for brid discussion. What will be the effect on trade between tit Free State and Britain ?—or Northern Ireland ?
A Free State coinage, apart from the question of currener, will intensify the significance of the Border. A lively mi.
trovcrsy has risen over the minor matter of the desigt5 selected for the new coins. It is certain that the committee of connoisseurs in charge of the matter will give us technically fine specimens of numismatic art ; but their choice of emblete may be less fortunate.
It is known that every coin is to bear, on the obver4 side, the harp as national emblem. On the reverse, however,
it is reported that images of animals, as significant of the Free State's staple industry,. will appear. If the connoissour had exercised a sense of humour and a little imagination, they would have realized what use the ribald Irish genius will make of such symbols. The names of the coins will be forgotten, if they are learnt (for they will be in Gaelic), and men will ask for "two cows" or "a salmon and a sheep."
One feels that the coins should have been made the vehicle of a more abstract symbolism. If heraldic emblems were rejected, the different phases of Trish tradition might hae been suggested. The martial tradition of the race could have been suggested on one coin by an Irish sword and galloglasc axe ; the scholarly tradition by book and lamp ; the Churek by a mitre ; sport by a hound ; Irish art and 'architecture by a Celtic cross ; seafaring by St. Brendan's ship ; industry and the home by the spinning wheel. All these emblem would make sharp designs, and by their adoption the poen of Irish life and antiquity might have rendered a series six coins notable.
Possibly we must attribute the preference for the farmyard to the same cause as the Gaelic declension at the Abbey.
I am, Sir, eke., YOUR CORRESPONDENT IN DUBLIS,
Previous page
