Plays

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The Square Peg

OVERVIEW

  • Playwright

    Harry Sinton Gibson 

  • Setting

    The sitting room behind the shop of Joseph Cunningham, in the town of Cloughmany in Northern Ireland, in November 1930.

  • Synopsis

    J.C Cunningham, shopkeeper, turns hard and bitter when his father bequeathes the substantial family fortune to his sister Sarah, and leaves the shop business only to him. Determined to make sons George and Dick upstanding members of the community and the Calvinist church to which they belong, he thwarts George's ambition to become a horse-trainer, and decides that Dick will become a minister. As each rebels in their own way, wife Mary quietly despairs, and as the years go by the house becomes one of misery. J.C.'s refusal to change results in the slow collapse of the business, but as the facts of this emerge, Mary finds her voice. Through her efforts, a glimmer of hope presents itself for the future.

  • Play Type

    Plays General

    Number Of Acts

    Full-Length

  • Cast Size Male

    9

  • Cast Size Female

    4

ORIGINAL PRODUCTION

Original Cast  
Charles Gorman Maurice O'Callaghan
Annie McQuillan Sheila McGibbon
Rev. Alexander McCrea, B.A. Patrick Magee
Joseph Cunningham R.H. MacCandless
May Cunningham Elizabeth Begley
Samuel Graham Joseph Tomelty
Sarah Bannin Sheila Crawford
George Cunningham William Millar
Dick Cunningham Laurence Beattie
John Fannon Ricky Matthews
Bessie Margaret Walker
Willie Dudgeon J.G. Devlin
Major Berkley James Connolly (2)
Production Team  
Settings by Dan Fitzpatrick
General Manager Joseph Tomelty
Produced by Harold Goldblatt
Chief Electrician Dan O'Connell (1)
Records and Reproduction W. Erskine Mayne

PUBLISHED SCRIPTS

  • Title

    The Square Peg, A play in three acts

  • Year

    1951

  • Published By

    H.R. Carter Publications Ltd.

  • Address

    2 Marcus Ward Street
    Belfast
    Antrim
    Northern Ireland

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RIGHTS INFORMATION

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION

Information for this entry has come from the original production programme and the printed play script, held at the Theatre and Performing Arts Archive of the Linen Hall Library, Belfast.