DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Playboy of the Western World" (A Comedy in Three Acts) by J. M. Synge. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Comedy in three acts by J.M. Synge, published and produced in 1907. It is a masterpiece of the Irish Literary Renaissance. This most famous of Synge's works fused the patois of ordinary Irish villagers with Synge's sophisticated rhetoric and enraged Irish playgoers with its satire of Irish braggadocio. The play follows the mercurial rise and fall of the character Christy Mahon, whose self-reported murder of his father earns him much admiration until his father shows up alive and in pursuit of his cowardly son. --The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature.

‘I’m thinking this night wasn’t I a foolish fellow not to kill my father in years gone by.’ – Christy Mahon On the first night of J. M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World (1907) the audience began protesting in the theatre; by the third night the protests had spilled onto the streets of Dublin. How did one play provoke this? Christopher Collins addresses The Playboy ’s satirical treatment of illusion and realism in light of Ireland’s struggle for independence, as well as Synge’s struggle for artistic expression. By exploring Synge’s unpublished diaries, drafts and notebooks, he seeks to understand how and why the play came to be. This volume invites the reader behind the scenes of this inflammatory play and its first performances, to understand how and why Synge risked everything in the name of art.

Though he completed only five plays in his short lifetime, J. M. Synge, co-founder of the Abbey Theater, ranks as one of Ireland’s greatest playwrights. Rescuing the Irish peasant from a romanticized stereotype, his plays capture the essence of the Irish spirit in both his realistic characters and his unique language. In the Shadow of the Glen Synge’s first play (1903), based on an Irish folktale, combines the macabre with broad comedy, as an elderly husband fakes his death to test his discontented young wife’s fidelity. Rider to the Sea The greatest short tragedy in modern drama, this moving one-act play from 1904 depicts a peasant woman who has lost her husband and sons, one by one, to the raging sea. The Playboy of the Western World Synge’s satirical masterpiece, produced in 1907, is one of the great comedies of Irish life. A young stranger enraptures villagers with claims of killing his father. In classic Synge style it combines the real versus the fanciful, the traditional versus the individual.

Based on J M Synge’s Playboy of the Western World. Playboy of the West Indies opened at the Oxford Playhouse in 1984 and subsequently toured the UK finishing at the Tricycle Theatre in London. It has also enjoyed huge success in the United States, most notably at The Court Theatre, Chicago; Arena Stage, Washington; New Jersey and Yale Rep. The Court Theatre Chicago's production was nominated for four Jefferson Awards. There was an extremely successful revival of the play at the Lincoln Center, New York in 1993. Mustapha also wrote the television adaptation, screened on BBC2 in 1985. The play was recently revived at the Tricycle Theatre and the Nottingham Playhouse.

Introduces students to the work of one of Ireland's most important playwrights.

Winner of the Irish Book Award Finalist for the Booker Prize This “affecting” debut is “reminiscent of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying” as it paints a vivid portrait of a working-class community in contemporary rural Ireland (New York Times Book Review). “One of my favorite Irish books . . . Moving, atmospheric and beautiful.” —Tana French In the aftermath of Ireland’s financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds. The Spinning Heart speaks for contemporary Ireland like no other novel. Wry, vulnerable, all-too human, it captures the language and spirit of rural Ireland and with uncanny perception articulates the words and thoughts of a generation. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town life is witty, dark, and sweetly poignant. Donal Ryan’s brilliantly realized debut announces a stunning new voice in fiction. Irish Book of the Decade (Dublin Book Festival) First Book Award (The Guardian) “Newcomer of the Year” and “Book of the Year” (Irish Book Award) “Best Book of the Year” (Library Journal)

A Study Guide for J. M. Synge's "The Playboy of the Western World," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.