Ireland

Episode number 2 of Series “Changing stages”.
Second episode in the six-part series “Changing stages”, written and presented by Richard Eyre, about the history of theatre in the 20th century. This program focuses on Ireland and some of the Irish playwrights who gave birth to a new kind of theatre, one that had more substance than the 19th century Victorian melodrama and moralising society plays which were being performed in Britain, most significantly, at a time when Ireland was fighting for independence from British empirical connections. Richard Eyre discusses in great detail the influences and historical background of several Irish playwrights including William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Sean O’Casey, and J.M. Synge and the part these individuals played in the establishment of a national theatre and a national identity for Ireland. Yeats, Shaw and Wilde were all born in Dublin around the same time, but Shaw and Wilde very early on exiled themselves to England to make their fame and fortune through satirising the English high society. In contrast, against a background of political turmoil and tension, Yeats, in collaboration with Lady Augusta Gregory, conceived The Abbey Theatre which was to become Ireland’s national theatre and a stage for the works of Sean O’Casey and J.M. Synge, both playwrights who shared the belief that plays could be about contemporary events and the reality of people’s lives. Contains excerpts from film adaptations and theatrical performances including “The Importance of being Ernest” (Wilde), “The Playboy of the western world” (Synge), “Juno and the paycock” (O’Casey), “Pygmalion” (Shaw), “The Plough and the stars” (O’Casey), “Mrs Warren’s profession” (Shaw) and interviews and conversations with actors and playwrights including Stephen Rea, Liam Neeson, Fiona Shaw, Alan Bennett, Tom Stoppard, Peter Gill, Edna O’Brien and David Hare. Also uses b&w archival footage, stills, and beautiful images of the Irish landscape and seascape. For more information see www.pbs.org/wnet/changingstages.