Abbey Theatre, Dublin

‘Next week, at the Abbey Theatre, will find a triple bill of exceptionally varied plays occupying the boards. The first of the three is Mr. W. P. Ryan’s one-act comedy, “The Jug of Sorrow,” which was so successfully produced a week or two ago. The second of the plays to be presented is Mr. T. C. Murray’s powerful play, in two acts, “Maurice Harte,” and the third on the list is that ever-popular sermon in crude melodrama of Mr. Bernard Shaw’s, “The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet.” With this bill, the excellent houses which are now the rule at the Abbey are sure to be continued’. Freeman’s Journal, Saturday 21 November 1914.

‘[After T. C. Murray’s Maurice Harte”] “The Shewing-up Blanco Posnet,” a sermon in crude melodrama, by Mr. Geo. Barnard Shaw, was produced, and once again proved a big success. The piece is full of humour and sound logic. Chief amongst the caste was Fred O’Donovan, whose representation of Blanco Posnet was one of the features of the production. Sarah Allgood scored another success as Feemy Evans, and Sydney J. Morgan, as Sheriff Kemp, provided a good deal of humour. Mr. Arthur Sinclair, as the elder Daniels, was responsible for no small amount of mirth’ (Dublin Daily Express, Saturday 27 April 1915). ‘“Maurice Harte” and Blanco Posnet” delighted a full house [at the Abbey] on Monday night. It was a rare treat to see Sara Allgood, Sinclair and O’Donovan in the principal roles of two such interesting plays. It would be hard to say in which role Sara Allgood charmed us most … In “Blanco Posnet” she was Phemy [sic] - the woman beyond the pale, with her hand against every man, and woman too - brought there by the men whom she lived by, to do a man to death. Her assumed carelessness, her callous rages, and her great passionate outburst, when all that was good in her rushed to the surface, and her miserable life was set aside, and she, of all of them, could not kill a man - all this was real. I can find no higher praise for her. She certainly shared the laurels with the ideal Blanco - O’Donovan’ (Irish Citizen, 1 May 1915).

The Sport (Dublin), Saturday 5 February 1916, advertised at the Abbey Theatre on the following Tuesday-Saturday Bernard Duffy’s “The Coiner”, Shaw’s “The Shewing Up Of Blanco Posnet” and St. John G. Ervine’s “The Orangeman”. ‘“Blanco Posnet” was the whole well done, Mr. Fred O’Donovan making a fairly good Blanco of his own ... Miss Desmond might have been a little less respectable as Feemy. Mr. Sinclair and Miss Drago were as good as usual. Of the ladies, only Miss Lynd put any smack of the ranch into her part. The rest would have been ornaments to any drawingroom’ (Dublin Daily Express, 9 February 1916).

The Dublin Daily Express, Thursday 18 May 1916, advertised at the Abbey Theatre ‘Next Week, Twice Daily, at 3 and 8 p.m.’ Bernard Duffy’s The Coiner, Shaw’s Blanco Posnet and Martin J. McHugh’s A Minute’s Wait. Also reported in the Dublin Daily Express, 18 May 1916.

The Dublin Daily Express, Monday 29 May 1916, advertised at the Abbey Theatre ‘Monday and Following Evenings, at 8 p.m. Saturday Matinee at 2.30 p.m.’ Seamus O’Brien’s Duty, Shaw’s Blanco Posnet and Martin J. McHugh’s A Minute’s Wait.

‘Next week in the Abbey Theatre “The Inca of Jerusalem [sic],” an almost historical comedietta, by a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, will be produced for the first time [sic]. The play has already caused a considerable amount of curiosity, and is likely to arouse considerable interest. The leading parts will be played by Miss Maire O’Neill and Mr. Fred O’Donovan, and it will be followed by “Birthright,” a play in two acts, by T. C. Murray’ (Dublin Daily Express, Saturday 10 March 1917). ‘Abbey Theatre. Much interest is centred round the first production this week [sic] of The Inca of Perusalem, a comedietta, by “A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature”. The leading parts will be played by Miss Maire O’Neill and Mr. Fred O’Donovan' (The Era, 14 March 1917). ‘“The Inca of Perusalem” is having quite a successful run at the Abbey Theatre and last night a. crowded house gave it their unqualified approval. “The Inca” is a one-act comedy, the author of which is not more definitely described than “a member of the Royal Society of Literature.” It is known, however, to be the work of Shaw And certainly it displays many of the characteristics of that distinguished dramatist. It is written with little or no purpose; it points no moral; and it has only one thing to recommend it – its dialogue. There is plenty here to amuse the audience. It is witty talk, in which there is some half erratic philosophy. And it has the extra advantage of being more or less topical. The Kaiser is amongst the distinguished folk whom Shaw pillories in a burning satire. There is little or no acting. The half-dozen actors do hardly anything save work their tongues. But there is one role specially distinguished from the purely dramatic point of view, and that is the exacting role of the Inca. Mr. Fred O’Donovan invests it with any amount of robust life. There are, indeed, few characters which he has made a bigger success of. The other parts were also well filled' (Dublin Daily Express, 20 March 1917). ‘Dublin is trying to take away some of Birmingham’s theatrical laurels. On Monday night, according to a special correspondent of a Manchester newspaper, the Irish capital witnessed the first production [sic] of the Inca of Perusalem. Not only so, but the critic stripped away the very transparent veil that covered the initials (F.R.S.L.) of the author, and proclaimed to the world that masterpiece was the work of George Bernard Shaw and that the Inca was the Kaiser. Such acumen is startling!' (Birmingham Mail, Saturday 24 March 1917).

The Irish Independent, Monday 19 March 1917, advertised at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, that night at 6.15pm, with a matinee on Saturday, The Inca of Perusalem by a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (i.e. Bernard Shaw), followed by The Showing Up Of Blanco Posnet. Other newspapers advertised the plays throughout the week.

The Dublin Evening Telegraph, Monday 1 March 1920, advertised at the Abbey Theatre, on Tuesday 2 March and the following nights with a matinee on Saturday, W. B. Yeats’ The Player Queen and Shaw’s Blanco Posnet. ‘A large audience welcomed “The Player Queen,” by W. B. Yeats, at the Abbey last night. It was followed by “The Showing Up of Blanco Posnet,” by G. B. Shaw, a piece brimful of interest. Both continue for the rest of the week’ (Irish Independent, 3 March 1920).

‘The Abbey Theatre reopens this week with a triple bill of exceptional merit, the plays including “The Rising of the Moon,” by Lady Gregory; “Meadowsweet,” by Seumas O’Kelly, and “The Showing Up of Blanco Posnet,” by George Bernard Shaw, the productions playing to crowded houses nightly’. The Era, 3 August 1921.

‘The chief interest in connection with last night’s programme at the Abbey Theatre was the revival of the “Countess Cathleen,” by Mr. W. B. Yeats … George Bernard Shaw’s sermon in crude melodrama “The Shewing up of Blanco Posnet” followed, and once again revived memories of a singularly characteristic and entertaining puree of work. In it Miss Hayden, Miss Gertrude Murphy, Miss Maureen Delany, Mr. Peter Nolan, Mr. Eric Gorman and others contributed to make the cast complete. There will be a matinee on Saturday’ (Dublin Evening Telegraph, Wednesday 31 January 1923).

‘A crowded audience attended at the Abbey Theatre last night, when “Maurice Harte,” by T. C. Murray, and George Bernard Shaw’s “Blanco Posnet” were performed, and in both of which Miss Sara Allgood appeared … The “sermon in crude melodrama,” as George Bernard Shaw himself terms it, followed, and formed a striking to its predecessor. Suffice it to say that each one of the fourteen characters who make up the cast was filled to a marvel. Miss Allgood showed wonderful versatility as Feemy Evans, and Mr. Arthur Shields established once his pre-eminent powers as Blanco Posnet himself. Miss Gertrude Murphy was an excellent Lottie, and Misses Eileen Crowe, Maureen Delany, Sheila O’Sullivan and May Craig lent the greatest interest to their representations’. Freeman’s Journal, 17 August 1923.

The Freeman’s Journal, Tuesday 11 December 1923, advertised at the Abbey Theatre that and the following nights Birthright by T. C. Murray and Shaw’s Blanco Posnet. ‘Some very fine acting, and an excellently realised climax, brought enthusiasm from last night’s audience at the Abbey Theatre when Mr. T. C. Murray’s two-act “Birthright,” was on a programme with Mr. G. B. Shaw’s “The Showing-Up of Blanco Posnet” … Arthur Shields was good as Blanco Posnet - always one of his best parts. Mr. F. J. McCormick was too sincere as his parson brother - or perhaps had the wrong sort of sincerity, a carefulness of acting which somehow missed the lusciousness of that rare character. The Strapple [sic – Strapper] Kemp of Mr. Dolan was very fine, very keen. Miss Sara Allgood should have been excellent as Feemy Evans, but instead she fell into her common fault of a most unsuitable sing-song intonation. May Craig as the Strange Woman, Peter Nolan as Sheriff Kemp, and a long cast, were all good, though all might have been a little more naturalistic. It is curious that the audience laughed most at exactly the wrong sentence in “Blanco Posnet” - which, by the way, is a play of the time when “America was too drunk to hear the voice of the tempter”’ (Freeman’s Journal, 12 December 1923).

‘The production of Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King” at the Abbey Theatre next Tuesday will be a notable event in that theatre’s history. It will be the first Greek play produced by the Abbey Company ... The play will be followed by Bernard Shaw’s “The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet.” There will be a matinee on Saturday’ (Evening Herald (Dublin), Saturday 4 December 1926). ‘It was a shrewd thing to combine on one programme two plays so remotely removed from each other as “Oedipus the King” and “The Shewing lip of Blanco Posnet,” staged at the Abbey last night. Ancient and modern philosophers had created both dramas, and the points of similarity, in so far as the ideas of the Deity were concerned, were truly remarkable. The gods of Thebes and the God of the American Town Hall seem to be, according to these philosophers, little different in their revenges. That the gods will let us humans carry on with our own sweet will for a while, but they will get us in the end, appears to have been the accepted religion of Oedipus and Blanco Posnet. The pagan gods had spoken through their oracles and soothsayers to the King, who was unconscious of his crimes, just as the God of the Christians had spoken through the mouths of Elders to the cowboy who was going to be hanged for unconscious horse stealing … “The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet” was a good performance, with Arthur Shields and Maureen Delany at their best. Its production took away the twang of the previous tragedy’ (Evening Herald (Dublin), 8 December 1926.)

‘The success of the Ulster Players on their recent visit to Dublin tends to increase the interest attached to the visit of another Northern dramatic society to the metropolis next week, when the Queen’s University (Belfast) Dramatic Society open a short season at the Abbey Theatre. Abbey patrons are familiar with most of the plays to be produced, but this does not lessen the interest in the students’ visit. On the contrary, it will afford a unique opportunity of comparing their merits with those of the famous Abbey Players … The programme arranged for the week is as follows … Wednesday, “Magic” [by G. K. Chesterton] and “The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet,” by G. B. Shaw …Thursday night, “The Lover” [by Martinez Sierra],” “Local News” [by R. C. Calvert], “The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet,” “King Lear’s Wife” [by G. Bottomley]’. Evening Herald (Dublin), Saturday 18 December 1926.

‘Kathleen O’Brennan’s fine drama “Full Measure,” has its first revival this week … Shaw’s “The showing up of Blanco Posnet” is also in the bill’. The Stage, 18 July 1929.

‘“Money,” a new play in two acts, and “The Showing-Up of Blanco Posnet,” by George Bernard Shaw, are presented [at the Abbey Theatre]’. The Stage, 12 March 1931.

‘Dublin, Friday. At last the Abbey Theatre, by giving in one programme Mr. W. B. Yeats’s “On Bailes Strand” and Mr. Bernard Shaw’s “The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet,” has presented a clue to the inquiring and puzzled critic. Mr. Yeats’s play of the killing by Cuchulain of his own son showed the actors at their worst: Mr. Shaw’s showed them at their best … when they came to “The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet” the actors sprang into life like prisoners freed from their chains. Mr. Shaw’s name cannot be enrolled on the roll-call of the Abbey Theatre dramatists: it was the ban of the English censor that handed this play to the Irish company. And no reverence, no ritual, clogged them. They rose from their knees and stood up like actors. Mr. Arthur Shields as the horse-thief, Mr. Austin Weldon most adroitly as the sheriff, Mr. Michael J. Dolan as the elder; these and half-a-dozen others gave the performances of enfranchised actors in their own right. Mr. Hugh Hunt’s direction, too, gave the play a fresh breath of theatrical life: he grouped it with liveliness and skill and set on it the briskest and wittiest pace. It was consequently the best performance that the Abbey has given so far this week'. Daily News (London), 13 August 1938.

The performance date shown is conjectural. ‘Mr. Shaw’s “Sermon in Crude Melodrama” is not a work theatre that has ever greatly appealed to me. I find long stretches of its exposition very boring indeed. So that it is a tribute to the large Abbey cast that I didn’t yawn once during the presentation of “The Showing-Up of Blanco Posnet.” I think this was due particularly to three very fine performances, the Elder Daniels, played by Pilib O Floinn (an actor who goes from strength to strength), Maire Ni Dhomhnaill’s Feemy Evans, and Aingeal Ni Nuamain’s playing of the Woman. For the rest there was good teamwork, but I thought it a pity that Vere Dudgeon’s set hadn’t a window (above the jury-box) to let a little more light trickle in on a rather too shadowy stage. Was this due to following out Mr. Shaw stage directions? Possibly’. Catholic Standard, Friday 6 April 1951.