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The Playboyof theWestern WorldbyJ. M. SyngeCover art by Scott McKowen.Know-the-ShowAudience Guidecompiled and written byMeredith Kefferfor the Education Department ofThe Shakespeare Theatreof New Jersey

The Shakespeare Theatre of New JerseyThe Playboy of the Western World: Know-the-Show GuideInThis Guide– The Life of J. M. Synge.2– Playboy of the Western World: An Introduction.4– Who’s Who: The Characters in Playboy.6– Quotable: W. B. Yeats on Synge.7– Sources in Irish Folklore.8– Synge’s Language.10– Quotable: J. M. Synge’s The Aran Islands.11– Explore Online: Links.12– Commentary and Criticism.13– The Playboy Riots.15– Terms & Phrases in Playboy.16– Sources and Further Reading.171

The Shakespeare Theatre of New JerseyofThe Playboy of the Western World: Know-the-Show GuideThe LifeJ. M. SyngeJ. M. Synge (Source: CreightonUniversity).Anon the grounds of religion. Soon after“Emo Kid”?abandoning God, Synge took upSynge took a while tomusic, his ‘gateway drug’ tofind his voice as a writer.He penned what we might callromanticism, and he developedangst-riddenteenage poetry wella profound interest in all thingsinto his twenties. For example: “IIrish.curse my bearing, childhood, youth/ I curse the sea, sun, mountains,moon, / I curse my learning,Synge entered Trinity College butsearch for truth, / I curse thebarely scraped by with a seconddawning, night, andnoon.”class degree. He was so focused onJohn Millington Synge was bornin 1871, in a suburb of Dublin,to a family of devout Protestants.His father died during Synge’sinfancy, but his mother wouldend up supporting her sonfinancially for the rest of his life.As a sickly child, Synge spenta good deal of time excusedfrom school and able to indulgean interest in natural historyby playing outside and birdwatching with a cousin.his musical studies at the Royal IrishAcademy of Music, however, that he received scholarshipsand considered a career as a music teacher. After college, hespent much of 1893 and 1894 in Germany studying music buteventually decided it wasn’t for him. He moved to Paris wherehe would spend the next seven years studying literature, thoughhis early attempts at writing were floundering, awkward, andself-conscious.In Paris, Synge met W. B. Yeats and other rising members of theIrish literary revival. Yeats claimed that on their very first meetinghe told Synge to “give up Paris” and go to the Aran Islands, threewindswept barren islands off the west coast of Ireland. Althoughscholars doubt the chronology of Yeats’s story, what is true isthat Synge went to Aran, where he lived among the peasantsobserving their customs and listening to their stories, soakingup the rhythms and imagery of their language, and learningDespite Synge’s close-knit family, he often felt like an outsider.An early encounter with Darwin’s theories of evolutioneventually led him to a crisis of faith – a difficult experience fora child whose grandfather was a rector and whose older brotherand uncle were missionaries. His atheism created problems notonly for his family life but also for his love life. A proposal toCherrie Matheson in 1895 (and another in 1896) was rejected2

The Shakespeare Theatre of New JerseyThe Playboy of the Western World: Know-the-Show Guideto appreciate the harsh existence of a people whose life is aconstant struggle for survival against the elements. Also true,whether or not Yeats foresaw it, is that after Synge’s series of visitsto the islands he soon became a much better writer – a writer, infact, whose plays would become staples of the renowned AbbeyTheatre in Dublin, and, eventually, revered classic works.engaged. Manyhave wonderedhow the saltand fervor ofSynge’s playsemerged fromthis quiet,melancholy,and respectableman. As Yeatswrote of Synge:Molly Allgood, Synge’s fiancée, as Pegeen in the“He loves alloriginal 1907 production of The Playboy. (Source: TheAbbey Theatre).that has edge,all that is saltin the mouth, all that is rough to the hand, all that heightens theemotions by contest, all that stings into life the sense of tragedy.”Between 1903 and 1908 Synge published the plays In theShadow of the Glen, Riders to the Sea, The Well of the Saints,The Playboy of the Western World, and The Tinker’s Wedding, aswell as The Aran Islands, an account of his time on the islands.All of his plays except the posthumously published Deirdre ofthe Sorrows are peasant plays, and three are directly inspiredby stories Synge heard on Aran. Distinctive features of Synge’swriting include a preoccupation with folk beliefs, especially howthey conflict with conventional Christianity; a deep veinof irony and the tragic dimensionsIrishof life; the agency and primacyNationalismof nature; and an acute senseThe Irish long bridled underof the lyrical and musical inthe yoke of English colonialrule. Their resistance took variouslanguage. Although Syngeforms, including violent rebellions,was a key member of thebut by the late 1800s the revivalIrish National Theatreof Irish Gaelic culture became animportant aspect of nationalism.Society and the AbbeyInvoking Ireland’s historic andTheatre, he generally steeredmythic past presented Irish culturalidentity as distinct from Englishclear of the politics in whichand helped make the caseother literary nationalistsHaving endured several bouts of unrequited love in his life,Synge finally found a woman who reciprocated his affections:Molly Allgood, the actress who played Pegeen in the premiereof The Playboy. Their relationship was sometimes tempestuous– not to mention disapproved of by family and friends – but thetwo became engaged. Unfortunately, Synge’s Hodgkin’s disease,which had plagued him since 1897, finally got the best of him.Synge died on March 24, 1909, in Dublin, before he couldfinish his last play or marry the love of his life. He was onlythirty-seven years old.for independence.3

The Shakespeare Theatre of New JerseyThe Playboy of the Western World: Know-the-Show GuidePlayboy:An Introductionhearing that their surprise visitor is on the run from the law, thecurious onlookers, including Flaherty’s daughter Pegeen Mike,try to guess his crime. When it eventually comes out that Christymurdered his father with the blow of a loy (a heavy spade usedto dig potatoes), the locals stand in awe of him. A man who killshis father, they reason, must be strong, brave, and dangerous.Against the protests of Pegeen’s meek and God-fearing fiancé,Shawn Keogh, Flaherty engages Christy as a pot-boy to helparound the place and keep Pegeen safe on dark, lonely nights.Written in 1907 by the great Irish playwright J. M. Synge, ThePlayboy of the Western World is now one of the all-time classicplays of a nation that at first resoundingly rejected it. Its firstperformances were greeted by such massive rioting that theauthorities dispatched hundreds of policeNow left alone together, Christy and Pegeenofficers to keep order in the streets. Viewingstart talking and fall in love with each other.the colorful language as blasphemous and theThey are interrupted, however, by the Widowvibrant characters as caricature, the audienceQuin who has been sent by Shawn and thetook the play as an affront to the honor andpriest to take Christy away. She is unable todignity of the Irish and missed Synge’s subtlepersuade him to leave and Pegeen kicks herironies, masterful interweaving of tone andout of the house. Pegeen then puts the tiredplot, and beautiful re-workings of traditionalChristy to bed and retires to her own room.imagery. With language as rich and poetic in its A scene from the Druid Theatre Company’s2005 production of The Playboy, part of theirway as Shakespeare’s, Synge and his playboyAct II: Christy, overjoyed to find himself with a8.5-hour presentation of Synge’s oeuvre. Photoby Keith Pattison.gradually weave a romantic dream out of thejob and a girl and a roof over his head, drawsimpoverished surroundings that have contrivedthe attention of the local lasses, who trek overto stifle such aspiration. Whether to follow the playboy or turnfrom town to marvel at the man who killed his father. Returningagainst him is as much a choice for us the audience as it is forto the house, Pegeen angrily sends the girls away and frightensthe characters on stage.Christy with the story of a man hanged that morning. Theyreconcile until they are again interrupted, this time by Shawnand the Widow, who try to bribe Christy with nice clothesand a ticket to the States. When this ploy to get rid ofAct I: A bedraggled young man, Christy Mahon, stumbles intoMichael Flaherty’s pub in rural County Mayo, Ireland. Upon4

The Shakespeare Theatre of New JerseyThe Playboy of the Western World: Know-the-Show GuideChristy also fails, Shawn leaves the Widow to attempt to seduceChristy herself. Unexpectedly, Christy’s father, Old Mahon,approaches the pub. Christy hides and the Widow questions theold man. It turns out that not only did Old Mahon not die of theblow, but he claims that Christy is lazy, shy, and incompetent.The Widow has some fun at his expense, but also protectsChristy by sending Old Mahon away on a wild goose chaseand vowing to keep Christy’s secret. The danger having passedfor the moment, the village girls come to take Christy away toparticipate in the local games and sports.Act III: The farmers Philly Cullen and Jimmy Farrell are chattingin the pub when Old Mahon returns. Widow Quin, arrivingsoon after, tries to convince them that the old man is crazy, butthe farmers’ suspicions are aroused as to the man’s identity. Asthey are talking, the races start in view of the window. Mahonthinks he recognizes Christy, but can’t reconcile this flashingyoung “playboy” with the good-for-nothing that is his son,and leaves the pub, convinced he’s crazy. The crowd enters,celebrating Christy’s win. Pegeen and Christy, now at the heightof his confidence and poetic powers, convince Flaherty thathe’s a better match for Pegeen than Shawn. Just as it seems thateverything is falling into place for the young lovers, however,Old Mahon returns and chaos ensues. Christy, sensing thatpublic opinion has turned against him for appearing to be aliar, chases his father outside to kill him for good. Now thevillagers become entirely hostile, scared they will be arrestedas accomplices. The Widow and a village girl try to save ChristyIllustrations from Jack B. Yeats’s Life in the West of Ireland. Many of thesedrawings were created while Yeats was traveling with Synge, and one cansee where Synge may have gotten some of his ideas - the first image (“Willhe catch them?”) is of a horse race, and the second portrays “A man with abroken head,” like Old Mahon (Source: Villanova University Library).from hanging by disguising him in a petticoat and sending himoff to the States, but he refuses to leave Pegeen. The villagerscome back in and tie him up, and Pegeen even burns him. At thelast minute, Old Mahon – miraculously, still alive – returns andunties his son. Christy agrees to go with his father, but reversestheir roles: now the young man is the master and his father thecowed subservient. Christy leaves on a trimphant note, blessingthe crowd for having turned him into a “likely gaffer” after all.Pegeen, devastated, laments her loss of “the only Playboyof the Western World.”5