OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Denis Johnston  Ernst Toller 

• Author Notes

  An adaptation of Ernst Toller's expressionist play Die blinde Göttin

• 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.

• 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.

• Play Type

  Adaptation/Translation
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  18

• Female

  3

• Total

  21

• Cast Notes

  In addition to the named actors, seven men play Solicitors, Barristers, Clerks and Civiv Guards.

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  26 December 1936

• Producer

  Produced by Abbey Theatre/Amharclann na Mainistreach

• Original Venue

  Abbey Theatre/Amharclann na Mainistreach
  

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme and from press cuttings of the time.