Kincora

Abstract

In March we broke entirely new ground with a three-act play¹ by Lady Gregory, which was particularly welcome because it dealt with a popular subject in hist rical legend—the life of Brian Boru,² or ‘Brian of all the talents.’ or see that made it a safe proposition, and it had the further adv tage of being long enough to fill the whole evening without a forepiece. Special scenery and costumes were designed by Lady Gregory’s son Robert and painted and made in the theatre. In the case of the scenery it was Robert Gregory’s first experience of having to enlarge a finished design to something many times the size of the original. But he was eager to learn and worked hard with me in the paint room. When the last scene, The Wood of Clontarf,’ was finished it provided a new sensation for Dublin in those days; for, instead of the orthodox wood scene showing dozens of trees with every leaf stippled on to them, it was just a pattern of boles of trees with a leaf design applied in one colour, the whole giving a rhythmic effect of greens and greys.

Extracted from The Fays of the Abbey Theatre (London: Rich & Cowan, 1935) pp. 170–2.