The Abbey Theatre Irish Players

              By Special Arrangement with The Irish Free State Government We Present
The Abbey Theatre Irish Players
Literary Cultural Ambassadors from IrelandOnly Company From
The Abbey Theatre, DublinThe National Theatre of the Irish Free State

Under Personal Direction Mr. Lennox Robinson Manager and Director Abbey Theatre Author of The Whiteheaded Boy,The Big House, etc.
See Page Four for Dates and Plays to be Presented

American Tour Directed by
ALBER-WICKES PLATFORM SERVICE Elbert A. Wicks, Manager 
441-2-3 Little Building BOSTON, MASS.
The Abbey Players

The First Visit to America of These Famous Players Since the Season of 1913-1914
Presenting a Repertory of the Great Plays That Have Made the Abbey Famous
The Scenes from Plays Appearing in This Circular Give Some Idea of the Varied Repertoire Carried by the Company. For the Plays to be Presented Here, See Page Four.

LENNOX ROBINSON Director

A Scene In St. John Ervine's Gripping Play, John Ferguson

HAVING closed the famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin for the season, the company that has sustained the high repute of  that great play house, directed by the Manager and Director of the Abbey Theatre, Mr. Lennox Robinson, is in America for the season and will appear here in the plays and on the dates announced elsewhere in this circular.

Literary Ambassadors to America	Seventeen years have elapsed since the Abbey Players last visited America, yet their wonderful acting and the vivid realities presented by their unusual plays are still poignantly remembered by all who heard them. Founded by Lady Gregory, William Butler Yeats and others, the Abbey Theatre has been for over twenty years a cultural center for the Irish people. Here many of the greatest plays of the Irish dramatists have had their first offering, including some of Bernard Shaw's, most of J. M. Synge's, Lennox Robinson's, Lady Gregory's, Sean 0'Casey's George Shiel's, William Butler Yeats's, T. C. Murray's, St. John Irvine's, and of many others.

As literary and cultural ambassadors from a small country to a large one comes this group of inspired players of inspired plays. Every player is as nearly perfect as it is possible to be; every play in the repertoire of the company is a gem.

Right: Scenes In Two Plays by George Shiels and Lady Gregory

Figure Right

Michael J. Dolan and F. J. McCormick, in Lady Gregory's play: The Rising of the Moon

Below Are Portraits of a Few of the Members of the Company

Michael J. Dolan

Arthur Shields

Eileen Crowe

Barry Fitzgerald

Maureen Delany

P. J. Carolan

F. J. McCormick

May Craig

A Scene In Lennox Robinson's New Charming Comedy,The Far-Off Hills

A Company of Ensemble PlayersWhen the Abbey Players visited us seventeen years ago, despite the presence in the company of Arthur Sinclair, Maire O'Neill, J. M. Kerrigan, and Sara Allgood, the Abbey management insisted that there are no stars in our company.Despite the fact that the players now here include F. J. McCormick, Eileen Crowe, Barry Fitzgerald, Maureen Delany, P. J. Carolan, and others, the Dublin management insists there are no stars.An American producer would advertise in big letters and electric lights--An All Star Cast.It is this system of no stars that has produced this great company of great players. Even the Art Theatre of Moscow under Stanislavsky has never matched the virile acting companies of the Abbey Theatre. Critics declare this organization to be the finest acting company in the English-speaking world.

The Players Who Are ComingMr. Lennox Robinson, the greatest of the younger Irish dramatists and director and manager of the Abbey Theatre, will spend the entire season in the United States and Canada as director of his company of players.

There are fourteen players in the company; space will not permit us to write of them all. Among them are Mr. F. J. McCormick, who has been with the Abbey Theatre since 1918 and is regarded as its greatest tragic actor, although his tragic work is frequently surpassed by his ability in comedy parts, like Joxerin Juno and the Paycock or his unforgettable Professor Tim.He has played over two hundred and fifty parts.

Miss Eileen Crowe is a brilliant player, the sort of whom people immediately say: She is an actress.Versatile to a degree, she plays a charming young lady one week or an old hag the next.

Many think that Mr. Barry Fitzgerald is the greatest comedian the Abbey Theatre has developed. Certainly he is an actor of distinction, revelling in parts of rich characterization and exuberant humor. An actor of great subtlety, he touches nothing that he does not adorn. Lured away to London by Mr. Charles Cochrane for a season, he returned to the Abbey in time to be included in the plans for the American tour.

Miss May Craig is perhaps the most versatile of all the Abbey actors. She is equally at home in broadly humorous parts such as Mrs. Gogan in The Plough and the Stars or Miss Joyce in Hyacinth Halvey. She has been with the Abbey since 1916.

Miss Maureen Delany is one member of the company whom everybody loves. The New York Theatre Guild has its Helen Westby, and the Abbey Theatre has its Maureen Delany. She is at her best in comedy parts, yet she gives a very moving tragic performance. She has been in America before, having toured here in The Whiteheaded Boy.


Mr. Arthur Shields is not only a very fine actor but a director of great intelligence. He has played the leading role in The Whiteheaded Boy more than a thousand times and has appeared in two hundred and eighty plays with the Abbey Company.

Mr. Michael Dolan visited the United States with the Abbey Company during its last tour here in 1913-14. He has been at the Abbey Theatre since 1910, except for the war period when he served in the army.

Mr. P. J. Carolan, or Paddy Carolan as he is called, is one of the few players who has played extensively outside the Abbey. One of his best characterizations is his Patrick Clancy in The Far-Off Hills.

Miss Kitty Curling is one of the younger members, a most attractive actress, playing a variety of parts.

Mr. Denis O'Dea has played with the Abbey for many years, doing the little character bits that mean so much toward the success of everyplay.

Miss Shelah Richards is another of the younger members of the company, charming, lovely; an actress of great ability.

F. J. McCormick as Professor Tim
The Outstanding Dramatic Event of the Season
IT IS VERY doubtful if you will have another opportunity, unless you
go to Dublin, within the next decade to see a performance by the
Abbey Theatre Players. The Abbey Theatre is the National Theatre
of the Irish Free State and will not send out a second company, hence whenever the Abbey Theatre Players come to America, it is necessary to
close the Abbey Theatre. The Irish Free State will not permit this being
done very often.

You will be delighted with the performances of this great aggregation
of versatile players in the famous plays outlined on this page. Dr. Eric
Wettergreen, Director of the National Theatre of Stockholm, after wit-
nessing several performances at the Abbey Theatre, said: The acting at the Abbey Theatre is the best in the world. In the theatre, there must
be an appeal to the emotions, and because of the naturalism of the acting
at the Abbey Theatre and its definite emotionalism, it is a model for all Europe.

Arthur Shields and Eileen Crowe in The Playboy of the Western World

HER MAJESTY' S THEATREONE WEEK ONLYCommencing Nov. 16Matinees Wednesday and Saturday

The Whitehead BoyMonday, Tuesday, Wednesday Evenings and Wednesday Matinee
NOV. 16-17-18

John Ferguson
Thursday, Friday, Saturday Evenings
and Saturday Matinee NOV. 19 20 21

Maureen Delay in 
The Whiteheaded Boy

Barry Fitzgerald inWhiteheaded Boy 

Printed in U.S.A.