Plays

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Blight (The tragedy of Dublin)

A play in three acts by A & O

OVERVIEW

  • Playwright

    Oliver St John Gogarty  Joseph O'Connor (3) 

  • Author Notes

    Originally produced under the pseudonyms 'A and O' and also 'Alpha and Omega'

  • Setting

    The present. A room in a tenement house in Dublin. A board room.

  • Notes

    A note in the programme: "(Apropos of the Dublin Tenements) Of the 25,822 families inhabiting the tenement houses, 78%, or 21,000 families, consisting of about 90,000 persons, occupy each only one room. No description can adequately convey to the mind the extreme wretchedness of such homes as these, where there can be no effectual separation of the sexes, where the parents, the adolescent, and the child must live, sleep, dress, cook, eat, wash body and clothes, read and study in one apartment. - The Evening Herald, November 3rd."

  • Synopsis

    A look at the lives of people living in the then contemporary slums and tenements of inner city Dublin, and the insufficient efforts made to enforce better standards of sanitation and housing.

  • Play Type

    Plays General

    Number Of Acts

    Full-Length

    • Cast size

  • Male

    13

  • Female

    5

  • Total

    18

Original Production

Original Cast  
Jimmy Micheál Mac Liammóir
Medical Davy Clement Carrick
Mr Bannerman Maurice Esmonde
Mr Tumulty Louis O'Connor
Mr Tisdall-Townley Fred Harford
Stanislaus Tully Fred O'Donovan (1)
Lily Irene Kelly
Mr McWhirter Hubert Maguire
Mrs Maxwell-Knox Margaret Nicholls
Larrisey P J McDonnell
George Foley Brian Herbert
Mr Morphy Peter Nolan
Medical Dick Arthur Shields
A Labourer Barry Fitzgerald
Mrs Larrisey Maureen Delaney
Mr Norris-Coote Eric Gorman
Mrs Mary Foley May Craig
Charwoman Dorothy Lynd
Production Team  
Produced by Fred O'Donovan (1)
Stage Manager Arthur Shields

Published Scripts

  • Title

    The Poems and Plays of Oliver St John Gogarty

  • Year

    2001

  • Published By

    Colin Smythe Ltd.

  • Address

    P.O. Box 6
    Gerrards Cross
    Buckinghamshire SL9 8XA
    England

  • Phone

    + 44 1753 886000

  • Email

    sales@colinsmythe.co.uk

  • Website

    www.colinsmythe.co.uk

  • ISBN

    0-86140-404-1

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  • Title

    Blight, The Tragedy of Dublin: An Exposition in Three Acts

  • Year

    1917

  • Published By

    Talbot Press

  • Address

    Dublin
    Republic of Ireland

Rights Information

  • Territory

    All Territories

  • Rights Type

    All Rights

  • Contact

    Colin Smythe Ltd.

  • Address

    P. O. Box 6, Gerrards Cross
    Buckinghamshire
    SL9 8XA
    England

  • Phone

    +44 (0) 1753 886000

  • Email

    cs@colinsmythe.co.uk

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme and Ireland's Abbey Theatre: A History 1899-1951 by Lennox Robinson, with additional information from press cuttings of the time. The identification of the psyeudonymous authors is from 'The Abbey Theatre, 1899-1999: Form and Pressure' by Robert Welch.