Augusta Gregory, The Rising of the Moon

George Cusack (University of Oklahoma)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.4: Irish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Paul Delaney (Trinity College Dublin), Anne Markey (Dublin City University), Ian Campbell Ross (Trinity College Dublin), Sinéad Sturgeon (Queen's University Belfast)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1904

Places

Ireland, Republic of (Eire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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Lady Gregory's

The Rising of the Moon

was first produced by the Irish National Theatre on March 9, 1907. At the time, the National Theatre was still reeling from the public reaction to John Millington Synge's

The Playboy of the Western World

. When

Playboy

opened in January of that year, it was roundly condemned by Irish nationalists but received a generally favorable reception from the politically conservative Anglo-Irish community.

Rising

received almost the opposite reaction. The Anglo-Irish press criticized Gregory's play for presenting Irish police officers as bumbling and easily corrupted, while nationalist papers complimented the play's patriotic spirit. The reception of Synge's and Gregory's plays highlights the fact that, in 1907, the Irish National Theatre essentially served two…

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1341 words

Citation: Cusack, George. "The Rising of the Moon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 November 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16619, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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