On Baile's Strand

On Baile's Strand is a play written by W. B. Yeats and first printed in In the Seven Woods published by Dun Emer Press in 1903. The play was first performed at the grand opening of the Abbey Theatre on 27 December 1904. The play is based on the Irish folk hero Cuchulain.

History
The story is based on the early Irish folk story Aided Óenfhir Aífe, but with significant changes to the tale including the addition of a comic subplot. The play received significant revision in 1905.

1938 production 
The play was performed again on the 4 April 1938. WB Yeats’s daughter Anne Yeats designed for this second production. She took responsibility for the setting and costumes. Anne was 19 when she produced the second performance of On Baile’s Strand.

Yeats designed many character sketches in a number of notebooks she kept, which are held at The National Gallery of Ireland Archives. These sketches include designs for Cuchulain, played by Liam Redmond.  

Other characters include:

 ‘A Blind Man’ (W. O’Gorman)
 ‘A Fool’ (Cyril Cusack)
 ‘Conchubar’ (John Stephenson)
 ‘A Young Man’ (W. Brambell)
 ‘Young kings and Old Kings’ (M. Keegan, D. O’Neill, J. Winter, F. Webster, F. Carney, P.H Considine)
 ‘Three Women’ (Ann Clery, Gertrude Quinn, Kathleen O’Byrne)
 ‘Servant’ (Peggy Cummins)

References

External links

 On Baile's Strand, direct HTML link, at Project Gutenberg

Category:Plays by W. B. Yeats
Category:1903 plays