1.
Orson Welles
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George Orson Welles was an American actor, director, writer, and producer who worked in theatre, radio, and film. In 1937 he and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory company that presented a series of productions on Broadway through 1941. It reportedly caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was actually occurring, although some contemporary sources claim these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to notoriety. His first film was Citizen Kane, which he co-wrote, produced, directed, Welles was an outsider to the studio system and directed only 13 full-length films in his career. He has been praised as the ultimate auteur, Welles followed up Citizen Kane with critically acclaimed films including The Magnificent Ambersons in 1942 and Touch of Evil in 1958. Although these three are his most acclaimed films, critics have argued other works of his, such as The Lady from Shanghai and Chimes at Midnight, are underappreciated. Known for his voice, Welles was an actor in radio and film, a Shakespearean stage actor. George Orson Welles was born May 6,1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, son of Richard Head Welles and he was named after his paternal great-grandfather, influential Kenosha attorney Orson S. Head, and his brother George Head. Despite his familys affluence, Welles encountered hardship in childhood and his parents separated and moved to Chicago in 1919. His father, who made a fortune as the inventor of a bicycle lamp, became an alcoholic. Beatrice died of hepatitis in a Chicago hospital May 10,1924, the Gordon String Quartet, which had made its first appearance at her home in 1921, played at Beatrices funeral. After his mothers death Welles ceased pursuing music and it was decided that he would spend the summer with the Watson family at a private art colony in Wyoming, New York, established by Lydia Avery Coonley Ward. There he played and became friends with the children of the Aga Khan, Welles briefly attended public school before his alcoholic father left business altogether and took him along on his travels to Jamaica and the Far East. When they returned they settled in a hotel in Grand Detour, Illinois, when the hotel burned down, Welles and his father took to the road again. During the three years that Orson lived with his father, some observers wondered who took care of whom, in some ways, he was never really a young boy, you know, said Roger Hill, who became Welless teacher and lifelong friend. Welles briefly attended school in Madison, Wisconsin, enrolled in the fourth grade. At Todd School, Welles came under the influence of Roger Hill, Hill provided Welles with an ad hoc educational environment that proved invaluable to his creative experience, allowing Welles to concentrate on subjects that interested him. Welles performed and staged theatrical experiments and productions there, Todd provided Welles with many valuable experiences, wrote critic Richard France
2.
Geraldine Fitzgerald
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Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald was an Irish-American actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Fitzgerald was born in Greystones, County Wicklow, south of Dublin, the daughter of Edith Catherine and Edward Martin FitzGerald and her father was Roman Catholic and her mother a Protestant who converted to Catholicism. She studied painting at the Dublin School of Art, inspired by her aunt, actress Shelagh Richards, Fitzgerald began her acting career in 1932 at Dublins famed Gate Theatre. Her great-niece is actress Tara Fitzgerald, after two seasons there she moved to London, where she found success in British films including The Mill on the Floss, The Turn of the Tide and Cafe Mascot. Fitzgeralds success led her to New York and the Broadway stage in 1938 and she made her American debut opposite Orson Welles in the Mercury Theatre production of Heartbreak House. She was seen by Hollywood producer Hal B, wallis, who signed her to a contract with Warner Bros. She lost the role of Brigid OShaughnessy, the villainess of The Maltese Falcon, Fitzgerald became a U. S. citizen during World War II in a display of solidarity with her adopted country. In 1946, shortly after completing work on Three Strangers, she left Hollywood to return to New York City where she married her second husband Stuart Scheftel, a grandson of Isidor Straus. She returned to Britain to film So Evil My Love, receiving strong reviews for her performance as an alcoholic adultress and she became a naturalised United States citizen on April 18,1955. The 1950s provided her with few opportunities in film, but in the 1960s she asserted herself as a character actress. Among her successful films of this period were Ten North Frederick, The Pawnbroker and her later films included The Mango Tree, and Harry and Tonto, in one scene opposite Art Carney. In the comedy Arthur, she portrayed Dudley Moores wealthy and eccentric grandmother, Fitzgerald would appear in a Rodney Dangerfield comedy, Easy Money, the horror film Poltergeist II, The Other Side, and the comedy sequel Arthur 2, On the Rocks. Fitzgerald began to act more often on stage and won acclaim for her performance in the 1971 revival of Long Days Journey Into Night. She achieved success as a director, in 1982 she became one of the first women to receive a Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Play. She appeared frequently on television as well, in series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Robert Montgomery Presents, Naked City, St. Elsewhere, The Golden Girls. She was a regular in the short-lived 1965 CBS serial Our Private World, in 1983, she portrayed Rose Kennedy in the mini-series Kennedy with Martin Sheen, and co-starred as Joanne Woodwards mother in the 1985 Alzheimers drama Do You Remember Love. In 1986, she starred alongside Tuesday Weld and River Phoenix in Circle of Violence about domestic elder abuse, in 1987, she played one of the title roles in the TV sitcom pilot Mabel and Max, produced by Barbra Streisand. She received an Emmy Award nomination for a guest role playing Anna in The Golden Girls Mothers Day episode in 1988 and she won a Daytime Emmy Award as Best Actress for her appearance in the episode Rodeo Red and the Runaways on NBC Special Treat
3.
Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle
4.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
5.
The Great Gatsby
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The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Progress was slow, with Fitzgerald completing his first draft following a move to the French Riviera in 1924 and his editor, Maxwell Perkins, felt the book was vague and persuaded the author to revise over the next winter. First published by Scribners in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews and sold poorly, in its first year, Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. However, the experienced a revival during World War II. Today, The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary classic, in 1998, the Modern Library editorial board voted it the 20th centurys best American novel and second best English-language novel of the same time period. Set on the prosperous Long Island of 1922, The Great Gatsby provides a social history of America during the Roaring Twenties within its fictional narrative. Fitzgerald educates his readers about the society of the Roaring Twenties by placing a timeless. Fitzgeralds visits to Long Islands north shore and his experience attending parties at mansions inspired The Great Gatsbys setting, today, there are a number of theories as to which mansion was the inspiration for the book. One possibility is Lands End, a notable Gold Coast Mansion where Fitzgerald may have attended a party, many of the events in Fitzgeralds early life are reflected throughout The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald was a man from Minnesota, and like Nick, he was educated at an Ivy League school. Fitzgerald is also similar to Jay Gatsby, in that he fell in love while stationed far from home in the military, Fitzgerald became a second lieutenant, and was stationed at Camp Sheridan, in Montgomery, Alabama. There he met and fell in love with a wild seventeen-year-old beauty named Zelda Sayre, Zelda finally agreed to marry him, but her preference for wealth, fun, and leisure led her to delay their wedding until he could prove a success. Like Nick in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald found this new lifestyle seductive and exciting, in many ways, The Great Gatsby represents Fitzgeralds attempt to confront his conflicting feelings about the Jazz Age. Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald was driven by his love for a woman who symbolized everything he wanted, even as she led him toward everything he despised. In her book Careless People, Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby, based on her forensic search for clues, she asserts that the two victims in the Hall-Mills murder case inspired the characters who were murdered in The Great Gatsby. The main events of the novel take place in the summer of 1922, Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate and veteran of the Great War from the Midwest—who serves as the novels narrator—takes a job in New York as a bond salesman. Nick drives around the bay to East Egg for dinner at the home of his cousin, Daisy Fay Buchanan, and her husband, Tom and they introduce Nick to Jordan Baker, an attractive, cynical young golfer with whom Nick begins a romantic relationship. She reveals to Nick that Tom has a mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the valley of ashes, not long after this revelation, Nick travels to New York City with Tom and Myrtle to an apartment Tom keeps for his affairs with Myrtle and others
6.
Hans Christian Andersen
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Hans Christian Andersen (/ˈhɑːnz ˈkrɪstʃən ˈændərsən/, Danish, often referred to in Scandinavia as H. C. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersens popularity is not limited to children, his stories, called eventyr in Danish, express themes that transcend age and nationality. Some of his most famous fairy tales include The Emperors New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, The Snow Queen, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina and his stories have inspired ballets, animated and live-action films and plays. Hans Christian Andersen was born in the town of Odense, Denmark, Andersens father, also Hans, considered himself related to nobility. His paternal grandmother had told his father that their family had in the past belonged to a social class. A persistent theory suggests that Andersen was a son of King Christian VIII. Andersens father, who had received an education, introduced Andersen to literature. Andersens mother, Anne Marie Andersdatter, was uneducated and worked as a washerwoman following his fathers death in 1816, she remarried in 1818. Andersen was sent to a school for poor children where he received a basic education and was forced to support himself, working as an apprentice for a weaver and, later. At 14, he moved to Copenhagen to seek employment as an actor, having an excellent soprano voice, he was accepted into the Royal Danish Theatre, but his voice soon changed. A colleague at the theatre told him that he considered Andersen a poet, taking the suggestion seriously, Andersen began to focus on writing. Jonas Collin, director of the Royal Danish Theatre, felt a great affection for Andersen and sent him to a school in Slagelse. Andersen had already published his first story, The Ghost at Palnatokes Grave, though not a keen pupil, he also attended school at Elsinore until 1827. He later said his years in school were the darkest and most bitter of his life, at one school, he lived at his schoolmasters home. There he was abused and was told that it was to improve his character and he later said the faculty had discouraged him from writing in general, causing him to enter a state of depression. A very early fairy tale by Andersen, called The Tallow Candle, was discovered in a Danish archive in October 2012, the story, written in the 1820s, was about a candle who did not feel appreciated. It was written while Andersen was still in school and dedicated to a benefactor, in 1829, Andersen enjoyed considerable success with the short story A Journey on Foot from Holmens Canal to the East Point of Amager. Its protagonist meets characters ranging from Saint Peter to a talking cat, Andersen followed this success with a theatrical piece, Love on St. Nicholas Church Tower, and a short volume of poems
7.
William Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
8.
The Rape of Lucrece
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The Rape of Lucrece is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare had included a letter to his patron. Accordingly, The Rape of Lucrece has a serious tone throughout. The poem begins with a dedication addressed directly to the Earl of Southampton, which begins, “The love I dedicate to your Lordship is without end. ”It refers to the poem as a pamphlet. The dedication is followed by “The Argument”, which is a paragraph that contains a synopsis of the story. The poem contains 1,855 lines, divided into 265 stanzas of seven lines each, the rhythm of each line is iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme for each stanza is ABABBCC, a known as “rhyme royal”. The poem is set just before the establishment of the Roman republic in 509 BC, the poem’s locations are Rome, Ardea, twenty-four miles south of Rome, and Collatium, ten miles east of Rome. Collatine describes his wife, Lucrece, in glowing terms — she is beautiful, the following morning, Tarquin travels to Collatine’s home. Tarquin entertains her with stories of her husband’s deeds on the battlefield, Tarquin spends the night, and is torn by his desire for Lucrece. His desire overcomes him, and he goes to Lucrece’s chamber and he reaches out and touches her breast, which wakes her up. He tells her that she must give in to him, or else he will kill her. He also threatens to cause her dishonor by murdering a slave, if she would give in to him, Tarquin promises to keep it all secret. Lucrece pleads with him to no avail, full of shame and guilt, Tarquin sneaks away. Lucrece is devastated, furious and suicidal and she writes a letter to her husband, asking him to come home. When Collatine gets home, Lucrece tells him the whole story, before she tells him, Lucrece gets the soldiers, who are also there, to promise to avenge this crime. She then tells her husband who did it, and she pulls out a knife, stabs herself. Collatine’s grief is great — he wants to kill himself, as well and his friend, Brutus, suggests that revenge is a better choice
9.
Hamlet
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlets father, Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brothers widow. It has inspired many other writers—from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and he almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeares time. In the 400 years since its inception, the role has been performed by highly acclaimed actors in each successive century. Three different early versions of the play are extant, the First Quarto, the Second Quarto, each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others. The plays structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny, the protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his fathers brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlets widow, Gertrude, Hamlets mother, Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighboring Norway, which culminated when King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway, and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbrass infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian kings son, Prince Fortinbras, is imminent. On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle and they vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed. As the court gathers the next day, while King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polonius, after the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his fathers death and his mothers hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself, as Poloniuss son Laertes prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polonius gives him contradictory advice that culminates in the ironic maxim to thine own self be true. Poloniuss daughter, Ophelia, admits her interest in Hamlet, and that night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, telling the prince that he was murdered by Claudius and demanding that Hamlet avenge him. Hamlet agrees and the ghost vanishes, the prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to put an antic disposition on and forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret. Privately, however, he remains uncertain of the ghosts reliability, soon thereafter, Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving crazily. Polonius blames love for Hamlets madness and resolves to inform Claudius, as he enters to do so, the king and queen finish welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the students investigate the cause of Hamlets mood, additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard, messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the King of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his fathers battles. The forces that Fortinbras conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlets behavior, and speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Hamlet feigns madness but subtly insults Polonius all the while, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly discerns that they are spies
10.
Culture of Ireland
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The culture of Ireland includes customs and traditions, language, music, art, literature, folklore, cuisine and sports associated with Ireland and the Irish people. For most of its history, Irelands culture has been primarily Gaelic. It has also influenced by Anglo-Norman, English and Scottish culture. The Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland in the 12th century, while the 16th/17th century conquest, today, there are notable cultural differences between those of Catholic and Protestant background, and between travellers and the settled population. Due to large-scale emigration from Ireland, Irish culture has a reach and festivals such as Saint Patricks Day. Irish culture has to some degree been inherited and modified by the Irish diaspora, in historic times, texts such as the Táin Bó Cúailinge show a society in which cattle represented a primary source of wealth and status. Little of this had changed by the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century, giraldus Cambrensis portrayed a Gaelic society in which cattle farming and transhumance was the norm. The Normans replaced traditional clan land management with the system of land tenure. This led to the imposition of the village, parish and county over the system of townlands. In general, a parish was a civil and religious unit with a manor, a village, each parish incorporated one or more existing townlands into its boundaries. With the gradual extension of English feudalism over the island, the Irish county structure came into existence and was completed in 1610 and these structures are still of vital importance in the daily life of Irish communities. Apart from the significance of the parish, most rural postal addresses consist of house. This situation continued up to the end of the 19th century, in this process of reform, the former tenants and labourers became land owners, with the great estates being broken up into small- and medium-sized farms and smallholdings. The process continued well into the 20th century with the work of the Irish Land Commission and this contrasted with Britain, where many of the big estates were left intact. One consequence of this is the widely recognised cultural phenomenon of land hunger amongst the new class of Irish farmer. In general, this means that families will do almost anything to retain land ownership within the family unit. The majority of the Irish calendar today still reflects the old pagan customs, christmas in Ireland has several local traditions, some in no way connected with Christianity. On 26 December, there is a custom of Wrenboys who call door to door with an arrangement of assorted material to represent a dead wren caught in the furze, the festival is in remembrance to Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland
11.
Abbey Theatre
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The Abbey Theatre, also known as the National Theatre of Ireland, in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day. The Abbey was the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world, since July 1966, the Abbey has been located at 26 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1. In its early years, the theatre was associated with the writers of the Irish Literary Revival, many of whom were involved in its founding. The Abbey served as a nursery for many of the leading Irish playwrights and actors of the 20th century, including William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, Seán OCasey and John Millington Synge. In addition, through its programme of touring abroad and its high visibility to foreign, particularly American, audiences. The Abbey arose from three bases, the first of which was the seminal Irish Literary Theatre. Founded by Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and W. B, Yeats in 1899—with assistance from George Moore—it presented plays in the Antient Concert Rooms and the Gaiety Theatre, which brought critical approval but limited public interest. The second base involved the work of two Dublin directors, William and Frank Fay, William worked in the 1890s with a touring company in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, while his brother Frank was involved in amateur dramatics in Dublin. In April 1902, the Fays gave three performances of Æs play Deirdre and Yeats Cathleen Ní Houlihan in a hall in St Theresas Hall on Clarendon Street, the performances played to a mainly working-class audience rather than the usual middle-class Dublin theatregoers. The run was a success, thanks in part to the beauty and force of Maud Gonne. The company continued at the Antient Concert Rooms, producing works by Seumas OCuisin, Fred Ryan, the third base was financial support and experience of Annie Horniman. Horniman was a middle-class Englishwoman with previous experience of production, having been involved in the presentation of George Bernard Shaws Arms. She came to Dublin in 1903 to act as Yeats unpaid secretary and her money helped found the Abbey Theatre and, according to the critic Adrian Frazier, would make the rich feel at home, and the poor—on a first visit—out of place. Encouraged by the St Theresas Hall success, Yeats, Lady Gregory, Æ, Martyn and they were joined by actors and playwrights from Fays company. At first, they staged performances in the Molesworth Hall, on 11 May 1904, the society formally accepted Hornimans offer of the use of the building. As Horniman did not usually reside in Ireland, the letters patent required were granted in the name of Lady Gregory. The founders appointed William Fay theatre manager, responsible for training the actors in the newly established repertory company
