The Irish Independent

The old Abbey Theatre was nothing much to look at. A narrow entrance on an undistinguished street corner. Inside, a lack of comfort for the audience such as could hardly be imagined nowadays. But comfort is nothing compared with magic. And all theatres offer magic; offer the hidden, the mysterious, the religious, the sexual. They are deeply subversive. No wonder Catholic priests were once forbidden to attend. The Abbey had a special magic of its own. Its opening both marked the culmination of the Irish cultural renaissance and supplied it with a palpable, bricks-and-mortar monument. Before we had our own parliament and our own courts, we had our own theatre. It was exciting. People took it seriously. There were riots. Some wanted no deviation from a portrayal of a sedate Catholic society.