The Playboy of the Western World and Two Other Irish Plays

by J.M. Synge, Seán O'Casey, W.B. Yeats

Book Overview

A murderer becomes the toast of the village as his charm negates his crime. A young countess saves her tenants from starvation, but only by selling her soul to the Devil. The sleepy parish of Nyadnanave sees a vision of a cockerel that dares the inhabitants to break the shackles of Church and State. All these plays were met with moral outrage and rioting in their native Ireland. Yeats's 'The Countess Cathleen' (1892), J. M. Synge's 'The Playboy of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140188789
• ISBN13: 9780140188783
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Excellent sample

I bought this for the O'Casey play and found it lived up to expectations. What I wasn't expecting to enjoy so much was Synge's "Playboy". Whereas O'Casey and Yeats here require some familiarity with the society and politics of Ireland of the time, Synge's play is a brilliant riot in any setting. Throw in one of Behan's plays and perhaps something from Martin McDonagh and you have an excellent sample of Irish drama of the last century.