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Playwright
Denis Johnston Ernst Toller
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Author Notes
An adaptation of Ernst Toller's expressionist play Die blinde Göttin
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Setting
The Hall of Dr. Chavasse's house in a small Irish country town.
The ante-chamber to the Law Library, Four Courts, Dublin.
The Central Criminal Court.
The State Solicitor's Office.
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Synopsis
The German expressionist playwright Ernst Toller commissioned Johnston to adapt one of his plays, The Blind Goddess (Die Blinde Göttin, 1932), about a miscarriage of justice. Johnston took as his plot the true story of an Irish murder trial that he later used in Strange Occurrence on Ireland's Eye. Justice is presented as a blind system that persecutes individuals whose behaviour is not deemed morally acceptable and that disturbs the public. A man is sentenced to life imprisonment for having killed his wife although there is little further evidence than the facts that he was committing adultery and that his mistress had to procure an abortion. As Johnston’s title suggests, however, justice might be more of a game that initiated people may turn to their own advantage at the cost of others. Some of his characters open their eyes and stand up against such misuse.
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Play Type
Adaptation/Translation
Number Of Acts
Full-Length
Cast size
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Male
18
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Female
3
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Total
21
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Cast Notes
In addition to the named actors, seven men play Solicitors, Barristers, Clerks and Civiv Guards.