Friday, January 26, 2007

100 year old Playboy

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.}