A Guide to O’Casey’s Plays: From the Plough to the Stars

Front Matter....Pages i-xi
The Harvest Festival (1918–19): an Ironic Melodrama....Pages 1-11
The Shadow of a Gunman (1923): Kaleidoscope of the Troubles....Pages 12-32
Kathleen Listens In (1923): a Post-Civil War Whimsicality....Pages 33-36
Juno and the Paycock (1924): a Camouflage of the Irish Civil War....Pages 37-64
Nannie’s Night Out (1924): a One-Act Vignette....Pages 65-69
The Plough and the Stars (1926): Evocation of the Irish Easter Rising....Pages 70-108
The Silver Tassie (1928): Testament of World War I....Pages 109-142
Within the Gates (1933): an Epiphany of Peace....Pages 143-166
The End of the Beginning (1934): a Jeu-d’Esprit....Pages 167-170
A Pound on Demand (1934): a Farcical Sketch....Pages 171-173
The Star Turns Red (1940): a Futuristic Extravaganza....Pages 174-203
Purple Dust (1940): a Pastoral Frolic....Pages 204-240
Red Roses for Me (1942): a Phantasmagoria of Dublin....Pages 241-271
Oak Leaves and Lavender (1946): an Oleograph of World War II....Pages 272-296
Cock-a-Doodle Dandy (1949): a Mock-Allegorical Fantasy....Pages 297-334
Time to Go (1951): a Satiric Fantasy-Sketch....Pages 335-337
Bedtime Story (1951): a Sophisticated Farce....Pages 338-340
Hall of Healing (1951): a Therapeutic Diversion....Pages 341-344
The Bishop’s Bonfire (1955): a Celtic Lament....Pages 345-374
The Drums of Father Ned (1960): a Prefigurative Comedy....Pages 375-395
Behind the Green Curtains (1961): a Tragi-Comedietta....Pages 396-401
Figuro in the Night (1961): a Farfetched Fantasy....Pages 402-405
The Moon Shines on Kylenamoe (1961): a Realistic Fantasy....Pages 406-410
Back Matter....Pages 411-419