Druid Theatre Company | The Playboy of the Western World

Directed by Garry Hynes Demonstration and Performance

by Druid Theatre Company

rish playwright John Millington Synge (pronounced SING) created haunting yet savagely funny works depicting the humor and sorrow in the lives of Irish peasants. In this performance, Druid Theatre Company members will present excerpts from Synge’s comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, and will discuss will discuss the significance of this play and the process of production.

Welcome to Cuesheet, your guide to Druid Theatre Company’s demonstration and performance of scenes from a play by John Millington Synge.

Cuesheet is published by the Education Department of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C.

ll of Synge’s plays share a common focus: the lives of Irish peasants. The actual language, characteristics, and life patterns of fishermen, villagers and farmers are at the center of his work, especially in what is generally considered his masterpiece, The Playboy of the Western World.

Young Christy Mahon stops to rest in the local pub in a small, quiet village, where he confesses he is on the run for having murdered his father with a shovel.

Because of the novelty of Christy’s story (and the skill with which he tells it), the townspeople marvel at his bravery and welcome him with admiration. layboy” th century, “p In the early 20 s today. e meaning it ha th ve ha t no d di con artist. nt trickster or Rather, it mea ’s survival of Old Mahon After the truth “the risty is dubbed is exposed, Ch ,” implying western world playboy of the “playboy” aud. The term he is a great fr rtedly and used light-hea was generally mpliments e title both co th so y, gl in as te actions Christy for his and condemns

CHARACTERS in Playboy of the Western World Christy Mahon – A young man who claims that he murdered his father and tells the story of it quite well. His tale turns him into a hero to his Irish peasant listeners.

Michael Flaherty – Owner of the pub in which the action of the play takes place.

Pegeen Flaherty – The pretty, quick-witted pub owner’s daughter who becomes romantically interested in Christy.

Widow Quin – A sneaky 30-year-old who is interested in Christy.

According to rumors, she killed her own husband.

Old Mahon – Christy Mahon’s father.

Thanks to his thick skull, he survives Christy’s attempts to kill him.

Christy makes himself at home in the town, enjoying his new popularity. While most of the women compete for his attention, however, he is only interested in Pegeen, the daughter of the pub owner. It becomes apparent that she is equally impressed by Christy, to the dismay of Shawn, her fiancé.

When Christy’s father, Old Mahon, stumbles into the town—wounded but very much alive—the locals reject Christy as a fraud. In order to regain their respect, Christy attacks his father a second time.

This time, it seems Old Mahon really is dead, but instead of once again supporting Christy, the townspeople turn on him.

Christy’s life is spared when his father, having survived his son’s second attack, intervenes and saves him from the angry crowd. The pair set off together, leaving the isolated village to return to its dull routine.

Synge drew inspiration from the people of the rocky Aran Islands off of Ireland’s western coast. He lived there for many years with peasant fishermen and their families, learning of their rough lifestyle centered on the sea, studying their language, and absorbing local history and folklore.

During the performance, look for these key elements of Synge’s style:

Most of Synge’s plays are comedies, although the plot summaries seem to point in another direction. For example, Playboy builds on an assumed patricide – a son’s killing of his father with the edge of a spade. Much of Synge’s work hinges on satire—the use of irony, wit and sarcasm to point out or ridicule a character’s vices or failing.

AS YOU WATCH THE PLAY, you may encounter some unfamiliar Irish words. Listen for some of these terms in the dialogue: streleen – idle talk, gossip peelers – police shebeen – a small country pub pot-boy – helper in a pub loy – a type of shovel used to dig up potatoes

a The peculiarities of the plain, sometimes rough language of rural peasants

O A musicality drawn from the rhythms of the Irish language

O A narrative style that blends satire with a keen sense of the absurd

O Explorations of emotions and relationships—and matters of life and death.

After the performance, consider which of these were present in the scenes presented.

The audience for the op ening night of Playboy did not find the idea of making a hero of a bo y who had killed his fat her, the satirical references to religion, or Synge’s portrayal of Irish womanhood to be comic; in fact, they rio ted. After the performan ce, consider their reaction—does the pla y go “too far”?

irector Garry Hynes founded Druid Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland in 1975. The company is uniquely qualified to present lectures, demonstrations and performances of the works of John Millington Synge. In their production DruidSynge, the company stages all six of his plays on the same day, in a single space with a single ensemble.

At this special demonstration, you will have the opportunity to watch the cast members perform selected sections of Synge’s works, hear them talk about their interpretations of the plays and how they approach their roles.

ohn Millington Synge’s biography is one that echoes the muted joys and ironic tragedies of his plays. A musician, poet, and playwright, Synge spent many years traveling throughout Europe and exploring other interests before re-embracing Irish culture and becoming a key figure in the development of Irish theater in the early 1900s. His six plays—all written in the last six years of his life—catapulted him to literary fame as one of the foremost English-language dramatists of the time.

His enjoyment of this world-wide success was cut short by his early death.