Playboys Past and Present

If you read this title eager to hear obscure trivia about Hugh Hefner's well-known literary magazine, you're out of luck. The playboys I refer to are in reference to The Playboy of the Western World, a classic of Irish theater by J.M. Synge. Synge's is a fascinating life story, studied music, wasn't very good at it, and taking advice from Yeats decided to spend some time in the Aran Islands (1) to see how "real" people lived.

Coming back to Dublin he wrote among other things the play "Playboy of the Western World", to this day one of the best things an Irishman has ever written for the theater. It's about a young man who stumbles into the pub of a small village in Western Ireland (2) , on the run from the law for the murder of his father. He becomes the town hero, beloved by the old men, wooed by the eligible bachelorettes, and a big ol' celebrity. I won't spoil what happens next, suffice it to say it's funny. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, Playboy of the Western World is an extremely funny comedy.

Unfortunately, the premiere audience didn't really get it. The play was staged at Yeats' (3) theater, the Abbey, and during its premiere the Abbey saw its first ever riot.

What were people rioting over, you ask? In the third act the hero, Christy (naming your persecuted hero christ-y, how's that for subtlety) utters a dirty, filthy word that had not ever been heard on the stage of the Abbey. A word that threw the audience into such a grumpus the show had to be cancelled, in spite of Yeats' lecturing them on what savages and uncivilized brutes they were being. The word?

Shift.

Like the key on your keyboard.

Though, this being 1907, 'shift' referred to a ladies' undergarment.

Ireland was so conservative in 1907 that saying the word for a ladies' undergarment on stage was cause for rioting. This noble trend of comical overreaction to perceived obscenity continued well into the 60's, when the small Irish theater famous for being the site of the Irish premiere of Waiting for Godot was closed after staging a play in which an actor pantomimed holding a condom. There was no actual condom, but that didn't stop the authorities from permanently shutting down the theater.

Now, many believe (myself included)the Inutterable Word is not the real reason the audience rioted. According to firsthand accounts of the night the audience began to grow restless and uneasy as early as the first act, "shift" was just the spark the ignited them. The theory goes that this growing sense of discomfort was cause by Synge's portrayal of poor rural Irish. They were rough, they were crude, they spoke coarsely, and they celebrated an alleged murderer in their midst for his avowed lawlessness.

This portrayal went directly against the romanticized picture the urban, middle-class Irish audience had of its rural brethren. No, they may not have actually met any of these noble farm-creatures, but they knew their countrymen better than some playwright who had actually lived amongst them.

The now-revered classic recently underwent a wickedly funny revision in 2007 by two playwrights: Roddy Doyle and Bisi Adiun. Adigun does not sound like a very Irish name, probably because Bisi is from Nigeria. This version of the story takes place in present-day Dublin, with the hero being an African refugee and the "western world" being west Nigeria. It's very funny, and very closely follows the original.

Now, to my roommate in question, and the cause of this post, Roddy Doyle is the man who wrote that "Irish are the blacks of Europe" quote I mentioned. From Fandango:

"'The Irish are the blacks of Europe, Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland, and the North Siders are the blacks of Dublin ... so say it loud -- I'm black and I'm proud!' Or so Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins) tells his slightly puzzled friends as he tries to assemble a rhythm & blues show band in a working class community in Dublin in Alan Parker's film The Commitments."


(1) In 1907 this was the sticks of the sticks. Also painfully beautiful on a sunny day. After much discussion I've decided that if I am ever required to kill myself to restore family honor, I will throw myself from the cliffs of Inis Moir on some bright afternoon.

(2) Western Ireland in 1907 (and today come to think of it) is just the regular sticks.

(3) Okay, Yeats and Lady Gregory, but she was a woman and because she was a woman her contributions to Irish theatrical history don't count as much. I wish I were joking, a number of works she collaborated with Yeats on are to this day credited solely to Yeats ("On Baile's Strand" was awful before she helped him rework it).