One hundred years ago today The Playboy of the Western World opened at the Abbey Theater. No, I'm not going to go all literary on you (because I can't), but I read this play in college and can still remember my answer to the first question the teacher asked, "What did you think of it?"
I put my hand up and said, "It's outrageous. I don't for one minute believe any group of people would celebrate a man who they thought had killed his father." The teacher then explained that when the play opened in Dublin in 1907 there were riots in the theater. "Good for them", I said. (I wasn't a shy student.)
He also explained that the language was at least as much a cause of upset as the plot. The word "shift" caused a firestorm. Needless to say my late twentieth century mind, saturated with all sorts of sexual imagery and language, had missed that completely. Besides, I didn't know what a shift was and the reference went right past me.
Anyway, I should probably read it again (number 3,653 on my list of things I should do). Despite the fact I found it "outrageous", I remember that I enjoyed reading it and got through it pretty quickly.
{And, no, I'm not in any way related to William Fay who played the lead on that famous opening night.}
