J. M. Synge''s The Playboy of the Western World

Im thinking this night wasnt I a foolish fellow not to kill my father in years gone by. Christy Mahon

On the first night of J. M. Synges The Playboy of the Western World (1907) the audience began protesting in the theatre; by the third night the protests had spilled onto the streets of Dublin. How did one play provoke this? Christopher Collins addresses The Playboy s satirical treatment of illusion and realism in light of Irelands struggle for independence, as well as Synges struggle for artistic expression. By exploring Synges unpublished diaries, drafts and notebooks, he seeks to understand how and why the play came to be.

This volume invites the reader behind the scenes of this inflammatory play and its first performances, to understand how and why Synge risked everything in the name of art.