The Dictionary

Abstract

ABBEY THEATRE (1904-), the national theatre of Ireland. Against a background of national and cultural resurgence, a new concept of dramatic writing came into existence in Ireland in the closing years of the nineteenth century. Hitherto, everything by way of actors or playwrights that Ireland had produced had enriched the English theatre. The new movement was not only nationalistic in its impetus, but also idealistic in concept and artistic in its aims. In fact, it was destined to bring back poetic imagination to the theatre in a distant outpost of Europe.