The Abbey and the Fine Art of Rioting

"A cacophony of boos broke out. Someone began playing a trumpet. The lead actor Fay tried to calm the dissenters down, even offering them their money back. Seemingly without reason, one man stood up and punched his neighbour square in the face.

Before long the commotion spread and the crowd transformed into a mob of “howling devils.” Synge sat rooted to his chair as some demanded his lynching. Eventually, a handful of police entered the hall and began making arrests. The curtain fell and the agitated crowd dispersed, making it to Westmoreland Street before a brawl broke out again. Yeats soon received a second telegram from Lady Gregory, "Play broke up in disorder at the word 'shift'."

Underwear-inspired riots, dustbin-dwellers, hounded dandies and tee-totalitarianists, the first part of my brief history of Irish theatre is now in print and online in this month's Verbal Magazine (see pdf files on left hand side - Verbal 19).