Michael Joseph Molloy (1917-1994) was born and died in Milltown, Co. Galway. He originally intended to join the priesthood but was struck down by tuberculosis. It was during the long periods he spent in the hospital that he started writing plays, having been inspired by a childhood visit to the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. His first play, Old Road, was produced at the Abbey in 1943, as were The Visiting House in 1946 and The King of Friday's Men in 1948. When the old theatre burned down and the company moved to the Queen's Theatre, his The Wood of the Whispering and The Paddy Pedlar were produced there, followed by The Will and the Way, The Right Rose Tree, and The Wooing of Duvesa. After the company's return to the rebuilt theatre in 1966 his plays -- with their romantic plots and Syngean dialogue -- did not find favor with the new Abbey, and, with the exception of Petticoat Loose in 1979, none of his later works were performed professionally. This selection contains The King of Friday's Men, The Paddy Pedlar,,The Wood of the Whispering, Daughter from Over the Water, Petticoat Loose, and the previously unpublished The Bachelor's Daughter. The volume includes a bibliographical checklist of Molloy's writings.

The selection of Boucicault's work in this volume stresses his consummate craft as a writer for the theatre in the age of actor-managers and melodrama. It also reminds us of that Irish verve, charm and adroitness which made him the best playwright of his generation in England and America as well as Ireland. Arguably the father of both the Irish and American drama, his characteristic plotting and taste for sensation suggest that another of his heirs was the early movie industry.

Best known as a novelist and man of letters, George Moore (1852-1933) is the author of such works as Esther Waters, A Drama in Muslin, The Untilled Field, The Brook Kerith, and his masterpiece, Hail and Farewell. Edward Martyn (1859-1923) was a distant cousin of Moore's, and, for a time, the two were close friends. Martyn, a man of considerable wealth, devoted his energies to a wide variety of activities, particularly the Church and political activism. His interest in playwriting, like Moore's, was of a secondary nature. Nevertheless, the two pooled and concentrated their talents to make important contributions at a critical juncture of the Irish literary renaissance. In 1899, aiming to provide a platform for the work of serious native dramatists, Martyn, W. B. Yeats, and Lady Gregory together founded the Irish Literary Theatre, Martyn soon brought Moore on board to lend his experience and notoriety to the venture. The great success of the Theatre's first season was Martyn's The Heather Field, republished here, which later enjoyed brief revivals in England, Germany, and the United States. Top billing in the second season was to have gone to Martyn's fast-paced, caustic satire, The Tale of the Town, but Yeats thought the play crude and not at all suitable for a serious, literary theater. When Moore reluctantly agreed, Martyn turned the play over to them to do with as they wished. Moore then rewrote it as The Bending of the Bough. Here the plays are published together for the first time. This volume also includes Moore's The Strike at Arlingford, The Passing of the Essenes, and The Coming of Gabrielle. This last is based on his correspondence with an Austrian countess he never met, and much of the dialogue in the play is taken directly from her letters. Martyn's Maeve, written for the Irish Literary Theatre, and An Enchanted Sea, a short lyrical play first produced in 1904, are also found here. The plays in this volume were selected by David B. Eakin and Michael Case, who have contributed a critical introduction. Helpful bibliographical checklists of Moore's and Martyn's works, both published and unpublished, are also included.

Contents: Mixed Marriage; Jane Clegg; John Ferguson; Boyd's Shop; Friends and Relations

"This superb collection of eighteen plays has long been needed. It provides a sound and solid introduction to the rich field of modern Irish drama, and should be as delightful to the private reader as it will be useful for university classes."--Journal of Irish Literature Contents: Spreading the News and The Gaol Gate-- Lady Gregory; On Baile's Strand and the Only Jealousy of Emer--W.B. Yeats; The Land--Padraic Colum; The Playboy of the Western World--J.M. Synge; Maurice Harr--T. C. Murray; The Magic Glasses--George Fitzmaurice; Juno and the Paycock- -Sean O'Casey; The Big House--Lennox Robinson; The Old Lady Says "No "--Denis Johnston; As the Crow Flies--Austin Clarke; The Paddy Pedlar--M. J. Malloy; The Vision of Mac Conglinne--Padraic Fallon; The Quare Fellow--Brendan Behan; All that Fall--Samuel Becket; Da--Hugh Leonard; Translations--Brian Friel