Riders to the Sea

Last updated
Sara Allgood as Maurya, photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1938 Sara Allgood.jpg
Sara Allgood as Maurya, photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1938

Riders to the Sea is a play written by Irish Literary Renaissance playwright John Millington Synge. It was first performed on 25 February 1904 at the Molesworth Hall, Dublin, by the Irish National Theater Society with Helen Laird playing Maurya. A one-act tragedy, the play is set at Inishmaan in the Aran Islands, and like all of Synge's plays it is noted for capturing the poetic dialogue of rural Ireland. The plot is based not on the traditional conflict of human wills but on the hopeless struggle of a people against the impersonal but relentless cruelty of the sea.

Contents

Background

In 1897, J. M. Synge was encouraged by his friend and colleague William Butler Yeats to visit the Aran Islands. He went on to spend the summers from 1898 to 1903 there. While on the Aran Island of Inishmaan, Synge heard the story of a man from Inishmaan whose body washed up on the shore of an island of County Donegal, which inspired Riders to the Sea.

Riders to the Sea is written in the Hiberno-English dialect of the Aran Islands. Synge's use of phrasing from the Irish language is part of the Irish Literary Revival, a period when Irish literature looked to encourage pride and nationalism in Ireland.

Several scenes in the play are taken from stories Synge collected during his time in the Aran Islands and recorded in his book The Aran Islands . These include the identification of the drowned man by his clothing and the account of a man's ghost being seen riding a horse. [1]

Principal characters

Plot synopsis

Maurya has lost her husband and five sons to the sea. As the play begins Nora and Cathleen receive word from the priest that a body, which may be their brother Michael, has washed up on shore in County Donegal, on the Irish mainland north of their home island of Inishmaan. Bartley is planning to sail to Connemara to sell a horse, and ignores Maurya's pleas to stay. He leaves gracefully. Maurya predicts that by nightfall she will have no living sons, and her daughters chide her for sending Bartley off with an ill word. Maurya goes after Bartley to bless his voyage, and Nora and Cathleen receive clothing from the drowned corpse that confirms it was Michael. Maurya returns home claiming to have seen the ghost of Michael riding behind Bartley and begins lamenting the loss of the men in her family to the sea, after which some villagers bring in the corpse of Bartley. He fell off his horse into the sea and drowned.

This speech of Maurya is famous in Irish drama:

(raising her head and speaking as if she did not see the people around her) They're all gone now, and there isn't anything more the sea can do to me.... I'll have no call now to be up crying and praying when the wind breaks from the south, and you can hear the surf is in the east, and the surf is in the west, making a great stir with the two noises, and they hitting one on the other. I'll have no call now to be going down and getting Holy Water in the dark nights after Samhain, and I won't care what way the sea is when the other women will be keening. (To Nora) Give me the Holy Water, Nora; there's a small sup still on the dresser.

Themes

Paganism

The pervading theme of this work is the subtle paganism Synge observed in the people of rural Ireland. Following his dismissal of Christianity, Synge found that the predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland still retained many of the folktales and superstitions born out of the old Celtic paganism. This play is an examination of that idea as he has a set of deeply religious characters who find themselves at odds with an unbeatable force of nature (this being the sea). While the family is clearly Catholic, they still find themselves wary of the supernatural characteristics of natural elements, an idea very present in Celtic paganism.

Tradition vs. modernity

Another main theme of the play is the tension between the traditional and modern worlds in Ireland at the time. While Maurya, representative of the older Irish generation, is immovably tied to the traditional world and inward-looking, Nora, representative of the younger generation is willing to change with the outside world and therefore outward-looking. Cathleen, the eldest daughter struggles to bridge these two worlds and hold both in balance. [2]

Fatalism

The characters of the play are at all times in contact with and accepting of the reality of death, the sea and drowning especially being a constant threat. They are caught between the dual realities of the sea as a source of livelihood and a fatal threat. [3] The objects and culture of death in the form of coffins, keening, and mourning are prevalent in the play and are closely based on Synge's observations of the culture of the Aran Island. [1]

Adaptations

Cinema

At least two motion picture versions of the play have been made:

Opera

The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) made an almost verbatim setting of the play as a one-act opera, using the same title (1927).

Bruce Montgomery (1927–2008) wrote a light opera, Spindrift (1963), that was based on Riders to the Sea.

German composer Eduard Pütz (1911–2000) also set the play as an opera, using the same title (1972).

American composer Marga Richter (1926-2020) also set the play as a one-act opera, using the same title (1996).

French composer Henri Rabaud (1873-1949) L’appel de la mer, a one-act opera, (1924), libretto by Rabaud based on Riders to the Sea, debut in Paris, Salle Favart, April 10, 1924

Dance

Mary Anthony's piece is titled Threnody.

Stage

Señora Carrar's Rifles is a one-act play adaptation.

DruidSynge a stage reenactment of all Synge's plays.

Translations

The play has been translated in French by Georgette Sable and it has been published by Anthropomare [4]

Other translations include: À cheval vers la mer (Riders to the Sea, 1903; 1904) translated by Maurice Bourgeois, [5] Cavaliers à la mer, translated by Fouad El-Etr, [6] and Cavaliers vers la mer (combined with L’Ombre de la vallée), translated by Françoise Morvan. [7]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Hern, T.H. (1963). Synge: The Complete Plays. Methuen. pp. Introduction to the Plays.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. Leder, Judith Remy (1990). "Synge's Riders to the Sea: Island as Cultural Battleground" (PDF). Twentieth Century Literature. 36 (2): 207–224. doi:10.2307/441822. JSTOR   441822. S2CID   164099659. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-01-03.
  3. Kennedy, J. (2004-01-01). ""Sympathy Between Man and Nature" Landscape and Loss in Synge's Riders to the Sea". Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. 11 (1): 15–30. doi:10.1093/isle/11.1.15. ISSN   1076-0962.
  4. "Liste_publications_riders_to_the_sea". Archived from the original on 2008-11-18. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  5. Théâtre. [Paris], Éditions Gallimard, 1942; rééditions : [Paris], Librairie théâtrale, « Éducation et théâtre. Théâtre de répertoire » n° 18, 1954, 1978, 16 p.,
  6. illustrations de Roland Topor. [Paris], Éditions La Délirante, 1975, 1978, édition revue, illustrations de Sam Szafran, 1982, 48 p,
  7. illustrations de Jack B. Yeats. [Bedée] Éditions Folle avoine, 1993, 96 p., 13.72 €; réédition dans Théâtre complet. [Arles], Éditions Actes Sud, « Babel » n° 199, 1996, 324 p.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galway Bay</span> Large bay in County Galway, western Ireland

Galway Bay is a bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south; Galway city is on the northeast side. The bay is about 50 kilometres (30 mi) long and from 10 kilometres (6 mi) to 30 kilometres (20 mi) in breadth. The Aran Islands are to the west across the entrance and there are numerous small islands within the bay. To the west of Galway, the rocks are granite but to the south they are limestone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aran Islands</span> Group of three islands off the west coast of Ireland

The Aran Islands or The Arans are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland, with a total area around 46 km2 (18 sq mi). They constitute the historic barony of Aran in County Galway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Millington Synge</span> Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore

Edmund John Millington Synge was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. His best-known play The Playboy of the Western World was poorly received, due to its bleak ending, depiction of Irish peasants, and idealisation of parricide, leading to hostile audience reactions and riots in Dublin during its opening run at the Abbey Theatre, which he had co-founded with W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory. His other major works include In the Shadow of the Glen (1903), Riders to the Sea (1904), The Well of the Saints (1905), and The Tinker's Wedding (1909).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inishmaan</span> Island off Galway coast, Ireland

Inishmaan is the middle of the three main Aran Islands in Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland. It is part of County Galway in the province of Connacht. Inishmaan has a population of about 184, making it the least populous of the Aran Islands. It is one of the most important strongholds of traditional Irish culture. The island is predominantly Irish-speaking and part of the Gaeltacht, though all inhabitants have knowledge of English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathleen Nesbitt</span> English actress (1888–1982)

Cathleen Nesbitt was an English actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maire O'Neill</span> Irish actress (1886–1952)

Maire O'Neill was an Irish actress of stage and film. She holds a place in theatre history as the first actress to interpret the lead character of Pegeen Mike Flaherty in John Millington Synge's controversial masterpiece The Playboy of the Western World (1907).

The Playboy of the Western World is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge, first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo during the early 1900s. It tells the story of Christy Mahon, a young man running away from his farm, claiming he killed his father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henri Rabaud</span> French conductor, composer and pedagogue (1873–1949)

Henri Benjamin Rabaud was a French conductor, composer and pedagogue, who held important posts in the French musical establishment and upheld mainly conservative trends in French music in the first half of the twentieth century.

The Plough and the Stars is a four-act play by the Irish writer Seán O'Casey that was first performed on 8 February 1926 at the Abbey Theatre. It is set in Dublin and addresses the 1916 Easter Rising. The play's title references the Starry Plough flag which was used by the Irish Citizen Army.

<i>The Cripple of Inishmaan</i> Play written of Martin McDonagh

The Cripple of Inishmaan is a dark comedy by Martin McDonagh who links the story to the real life filming of the documentary Man of Aran.

Deirdre of the Sorrows is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge in 1909. The play, based on Irish mythology, in particular the myths concerning Deirdre, Naoise, and Conchobar, was unfinished at the author's death on 24 March 1909. It was completed by W. B. Yeats and Synge's fiancée, Molly Allgood and first performed at the Abbey Theatre by the Irish National Theatre Society on 13 January 1910, with Allgood as Deirdre.

DruidSynge is a theatre production of the complete plays of John Millington Synge by the Irish Druid Theatre Company. It was the vision of Garry Hynes, the first woman to win a Tony Award for best director, to create the day-long cycle of all six plays;

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gweesalia</span> Village in Connacht, Ireland

Gweesalia or Geesala is a small Gaeltacht village situated on the Gweesalia peninsula in the Electoral Division of Rathhill, in the Civil Parish of Kilcommon, in the Barony of Erris in western County Mayo, Ireland.

Marie Mullen is an Irish actress. She is known for co-founding the Druid Theatre Company, located in Galway, Ireland. She is also known for her performance in the 1998 production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, for which she received a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Riders to the Sea is a short one-act opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on the play of the same name by John Millington Synge. The composer completed the score in 1927, but it was not premiered until 1 December 1937, at the Royal College of Music, London. The opera remained largely the province of students and amateurs until it entered the repertoire of Sadler's Wells in 1953.

Señora Carrar's Rifles is a one-act play by the twentieth-century German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, written in collaboration with Margarete Steffin. It is a modern version of the Irish dramatist John Millington Synge's play Riders to the Sea (1904). The play's setting is re-located to Spain during the height of the Civil War. Teresa Carrar, the mother, wants to protect her children but ends up fighting on the side of the oppressed. Brecht wrote it in 1937 and it received its first theatrical production in the same year, opening in Paris on 16 October. This production was directed by Slatan Dudow and Helene Weigel played Señora Carrar.

Aran knitting patterns are heavily textured knitting patterns which are named after the Aran Islands, which are located off the west coast of Ireland from County Galway and County Clare. The patterns are knitted into socks, hats, vests, scarves, mittens, afghans, pillow covers, and, most commonly, sweaters.

Laurence Kinlan is an Irish actor in films, television series and on theatre stage. He is best known for playing the role of Elmo in RTÉ's crime drama Love/Hate.

Riders to the Sea is a British short film, shot in 1935 in Ireland. It is based on 1904 play of the same name, written by John Millington Synge. It was directed by Brian Desmond Hurst with Sara Allgood and Denis Johnston in the title roles.

<i>The Aran Islands</i> (book) Early 20th century collection of journal entries about the Aran Islands in Ireland

The Aran Islands is a four part collection of journal entries regarding the geography and people of the Aran Islands. It was completed by John Millington Synge in 1901 and first published in 1907. It is based on Synge's multiple travels through the Irish speaking and predominately rural set of islands off the Western coast of Ireland. The book presents many of the local specificities of the Aran Island people while simultaneously contextualizing the Aran Islands as part of broader European and global commercial networks.

References