The W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre
Directed by Nicola Murphy
Saturday, February 2 at 8pm
Sunday, February 3 at 3pm
After leading his football team to victory, Harry Heegan arrives home in Ireland to a hero’s welcome before grabbing his army gear and heading to fight in World War I. He discovers a living nightmare in the trenches of France, where the men, reduced to cannon fodder, speak in mangled incantations. Harry returns home to a hospital ward and a wheelchair. As the war fades into history, Harry attends a party at the local football club and discovers that his sporting and war hero days are behind him, and his life and future are altered forever.
Production History: Written in 1928, this tumultuous antiwar play was O’Casey’s first work after his phenomenally successful Dublin Plays, which had all premiered at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. However, The Silver Tassie was rejected by the Abbey, an insult that quickly devolved into a very public spat with W.B. Yeats (an Abbey founder); quarreling letters between the two luminaries were published in The Irish Times for several weeks. O’Casey’s permanent move to England is often attributed to this fight, perhaps falsely, as O’Casey had actually moved the previous year. The Silver Tassie premiered in London in 1929, and was finally brought to the Abbey stage in August, 1935.
All readings are free to attend. Invitations were sent via email. To request an invitation, call the Irish Rep box office at 212-727-2737.