Mr. JAMES STEPHENS:
' Reminiscences of J. M. Synge '
A DIRECTOR of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, when it was the most vital dramatic centre in Europe, and the author of some of the most important plays of the century, John Millington Synge was in every way an arresting figure in the world of twenty years ago. More than any other man he was responsible for the renaissance of the Irish theatre that has gone on to this day, for Juno and the ' Paycock is the lineal descendant of The Shadow of the Glen. Synge was no cloistered artist working remote from the life of the people ; he learnt the language and the ways of the Irish country people by living on Achill amongst the simplest of them all, and when his work was produced he stood up to all the storms that it sometimes' raised. Mr. James Stephens, the poet and author of ' The Demi-Gods,' ' The Charwoman's Daughter,' and ' The Crock of Gold,' knew Synge well. Readers will remember his penetrating article published in The Radio Times in connection with the broadcast of Synge's masterpiece, The Playboy of the Western World.