Rhapsody in Stephen's Green/The Insect Play: And The Insect Play (Essays & Texts in Cultural History Book 6) Kindle Edition

by Flann O'Brien (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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ISBN-13: 978-1874675273

ISBN-10: 1874675279

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Using a play by Karl and Josef Capek as source, Flann O'Brien locates his insect drama in Dublin, his most familiar stalking- territory. His adaptation is a vehicle for ridicule and invective, targeting race, religion, greed, identity and purpose. With his extraordinary ear for dialogue, O'Brien creates his own fantastical world, and the outcome is a hilarious satire of Irish stereotypes - as Orangemen, Dubliners, Corkagians and culchies become warring ants, bees, crickets, dung-beetles, and other small-minded invertebrae. The lost text of this play, Hilton Edwards' prompt copy from the 1943 Gate Theatre performance, was discovered in the archives at Northwestern University, Illinois. 'A play by Ireland's most celebrated comic writer, Flann O'Brien, lost for fifty years, has been discovered in the archives of Northwestern University, Illinois, by an American academic. The O'Brien play, Rhapsody in Stephen's Green, was put on in Dublin by the Edwards-MacLiammoir company at the Gaiety Theatre during Lent in 1943 with a cast of 150 - representing millions, as is obligatory with an insect play. But, presumably because of the offence it gave to Catholics, Ulster Protestants, Irish civil servants, Corkmen, and the aspersions it seemed to cast on married life and the superpatriotic Fianna Fail party, it only ran six days and was never again performed ... However it and the context in which it was born - and rapidly snuffed out - gives intriguing insights into neutral Ireland of the 1940s, suffocating in puritanism and insular politics.' Peter Lennon, The Guardian, 17th of November 1994.

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About the Author

FLANN O’BRIEN (aka Myles na gCopaleen, Brian O’Nolan), Irish civil servant and toper, was a novelist, journalist, critic, playwright, and comic writer of genius. He died on April Fool’s Day, 1966, aged fifty-five. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B009SS4T7K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Lilliput Press (January 1, 1994)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 1994
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 310 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 98 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

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- #1,855 in British & Irish Drama & Plays
- #4,926 in British & Irish Dramas & Plays
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Flann O'Brien

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Flann O'Brien, whose real name was Brian O'Nolan, also wrote under the pen name of Myles na Gopaleen. He was born in 1911 in County Tyrone. A resident of Dublin, he graduated from University College after a brilliant career as a student (editing a magazine called Blather) and joined the Civil Service, in which he eventually attained a senior position.

He wrote throughout his life, which ended in Dublin on April 1, 1966. His other novels include The Dalkey Archive, The Third Policeman, The Hard Life, and The Poor Mouth, all available from Dalkey Archive Press. Also available are three volumes of his newspaper columns: The Best of Myles, Further Cuttings from Cruiskeen Lawn, and At War.

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Mike I London

An interesting play by Flann / Myles

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 20, 2012

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed very much this lost play by Flann O' Brien / Myles na Gopaleen, an interesting and highly personalised adaptation of a play by the Czech writer Karel Capek, written together with his brother Joseph.

A humorous (close to sarcastic) look at the human condition through episodes from the life of insects, this play shows Flann / Myles at the height of his creative powers, with superb powers of characterisations. The "Dublinisation" of the setting and characters is very successful, and the lovers of Myles' Cruiskeen Lawn column will recognise elements of it in here.

Highly recommended.