e outside of the faithful
pit that is interested in every sincere portrayal of Irish life. Such a
group, from the patriotic societies, prevented the rest of the house
from hearing "The Playboy of the Western World," after its first
performance on January 26, 1907, for four performances more; and such a
group similarly protested against "The Piper," a little more than a year
later, because it seemed to the members of the group to be an
unpatriotic revelation of the lack of cohesion among Irish political and
patriotic factions.

Despite opposition, however, and with new dramatists one by one gaining
a place in the repertoire of the company, Mr. Boyle in 1905 and Mr.
Robinson in 1908, Mr. Murray in 1910 and Mr. Ervine in 1911, more and
more people continued to become interested in the new drama, and by the
time Miss Horniman's support, promised in 1904 for six years, was
withdrawn at the expiration of that period, the Abbey Theatre was
apparently a fixture in the artistic life of Ireland.

It has been the custom, of recent years, for the Abbey Theatre to begin
its Dublin season In October and to continue it on until May, when the
company goes to London for a month. In the earlier years, before the
company had a home at the Abbey, and even for a year or two after that,
performances were not so continuous. Nor are they now given every week
or always on every night of a week, the theatre being turned over to the
Theatre of Ireland or some other dramatic organization occasionally, and
being let, now and then, for lectures or concerts or the like. The
London season in May is followed, or preceded sometimes, by visits to
other English cities, Manchester and Leeds, Oxford and Cambridge among
them; and at home in Ireland, in the intervals between weeks at the
Abbey, the company goes to Cork or Belfast for a few performances.

In this country the audiences that attended the performances of the
plays of the Abbey Theatre Players were of a very different composition.
At their average they included a certain proportion of the younger
intellectuals among the Irish-Americans, but very many of these were
kept away from the performances, as many, indeed, in Ireland and in
England, too, are kept away from the performances, by the opposition in
the patriotic societies. In America, as in London and in Manchester, and
in the English university towns, it has been largely from among those
who are seriously interested in a literary drama that