OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Patricia O'Connor 

• Setting

  Master Adams's house in the village of Ballybag, Northern Ireland, in the late summer of 1947.

• Synopsis

  Master Adams has been the stern but respected village schoolmaster for forty years. Now, on the occasion of his retirement, he is glum and despondent. Feeling he has been a failure in his profession, but not knowing by what criterion he would judge success, he grows taciturn and short with his family. Wife Susan, youngest daughter Stella and her hopeful suitor John Martin, Adam's succesor at the school, fail to lift his spirits, and these plummet further when Stella is seriously injured on a climbing trip. Then, just as it appears that Stella will never recover, the possibility of a cure presents itself, and for both father and daughter there is hope for the future.

• Play Type

  Plays General
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  6

• Female

  2

• Total

  8

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  18 October 1949

• Producer

  Produced by Ulster Group Theatre

• Original Venue

  Group Theatre
  

Source Of Information

Information for this entry was taken from the published script, from the original production programme from the Theatre and Performing Arts Archive of the Linen Hall Library, Belfast.