Sean O'Casey was an unapologetic critic of nearly all aspects of early 20th century Irish life and it shows in these three plays. These are tragedies, but O'Casey provides enough wit to prevent them from being overwhelmingly depressing. Juno and the Paycock details the events surrounding an inheritance given to a family readers are not meant to like, but essentially pity. The mother, Juno, is a strong sort who tries to guide her children, but who fails to reign in her story-telling, oafish husband. The plot is straight-forward and there is a great deal of religious commentary within this play which is high minded and enjoyable. The social message of O'Casey is clear and if readers miss it throughout the course of the play, they only need wait until the final act where he all but places it into bold faced type.
The Shadow of a Gunman is the most well-known of the three plays and is all but impossible to put down once it is started. Social, political, and religious messages penned by the author are given to readers through the cheeky tongue of the main character, who fails to understand the gravity of his situation and surroundings until it is too late. This was my favourite of the plays. O'Casey's decision to not show the primary actions of the play, rather to use the Grecian off-screen event followed by a retelling from a character method fits and makes the final act haunting and also lyrical in an altogether melancholic manner.
Finally, The Plough and the Stars, an earlier play, leaves no aspect of Irish revolution untouched by O'Casey's agenda. He wants readers to understand how blood spilled doesn't mean freedom, how the revolution is coming with the deaths of Ireland's people, and how lives are uniquely affected, yet suffer equally. Readers might be overwhelmed at first by the size of the cast and the vernacular, as he uses more slang and revolutionary terms in this play than the others, but the rhetoric of the plot and the dialogue is presented in blunt fashion. The plot follows a pretty straight narrative and as the story progresses, the cast thins as both a literary device and as a means of showing readers who is important, why you should pay attention, and what you should feel. A strong point of these plays is the author leaves almost no room for personal interpretation. He presents an argument and then proves why his position is correct. This is a contributing factor towards the desperation and desolation shared by the characters and those reading along. After finishing these three plays, it should be easy for readers to understand the atmosphere of revolutionary Ireland in the early 20th century and why certain groups would have tried so hard to silence O'Casey.
ISBN: 0330262718
Pages: 218
Paperback
Pan Books, 1980
Good condition; pages tanned; long ink gift inscription/dedication inside
B142
