King of Friday's Men (1948) is an Irish play in three acts by Michael Joseph (M.J.) Molloy [1] and is considered his first masterpiece. [2] The first production was on October 18, 1948, in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. [1]
King of Friday's Men (1948) is an Irish play in three acts by Michael Joseph (M.J.) Molloy [1] and is considered his first masterpiece. [2] The first production was on October 18, 1948, in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. [1]
The story is set in 1787, in Ireland, where a young woman, Una Brehony, is rescued by an aged man, Bartley Dowd, from an Anglo-Irish landlord, Caesar French, who sought her "for the first night" before she was marry her future husband, which was disturbing and frightful. Dowd, although an elderly man, is capable of fighting with the shillelagh or wooden walking stick in the process of rescuing her. The story has twist and turns as Brehony has actually used Dowd to rescue the man she actually loves, her future husband. [3]
The play brings up the issue of claims that feudal lords had Droit du seigneur or lus primae noctis (right to the first night) from serfs in medieval Europe. Dowd beings to see himself a servant of the Christian messiah, one of the men of "The King of Friday's Men". [4] An ancient prayer in Ireland refers to Jesus as "The King of Friday" due to his death on Good Friday. [5] [6]
The show premiered at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1948. The following year was the same production. The show then premiered in the United States.
The show was at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey in 1951 and then moved to the Broadway's Playhouse Theater later that year. John Burrell was originally the director and waived being in the program billing after he has been supplanted by David Alexander. Set design was by Stewart Chaney. [7] Unfortunately, the show only lasted four performance on Broadway. [8]
Maggie McNamara: Una Brehony
Sean McClory: Rory Commons
Walter Macken: Bartley Dowd.
The character of Bartley Dowd was first played in Ireland by author and actor Walter Macken, [9] who also played the same character in the Broadway production in the US. [8]
Source: [8]
The show returned to the stage of the Abbey Theatre for a 1952 production. [10] Following that, there was a 1973 production with Sean Kenny as the theatre designer. [11] Twelve years later, there was a 1985 production. Nineteen years after that, there was a 2004 production. [10]
Bartley Dowd: Aged gentleman who rescues Una Brehony and considers himself a servant of the Lord .
Una Brehony: The young lady who is rescued by Bartley Dowd
Rory Commons: The Landlord
Source: [4]
The play was later published as the book King of Friday's Men: A Play in Three Acts (1953) [12]
In one production of the show, a cast member described the play as follow:
“My character is a ‘tallywoman', she’s a lower class, single woman who is forced by her landlord to be his lover. It’s hard to stomach, but this is something that really went on. The fact that the situation is so repulsive to a modern audience shows how far we’ve come with women’s rights, but with all of the abuse and misconduct from high profile men that has come to light this year, it’s easy to see how far we have yet to go.” [13]
Cyril James Cusack was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland's finest thespians, and was renowned for his interpretations of both classical and contemporary theatre, including Shakespearean roles as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and over 60 productions for the Abbey Theatre, of which he was a lifelong member. In 2020, Cusack was ranked at number 14 on The Irish Times' list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
St John Greer Ervine was an Irish biographer, novelist, critic, dramatist, and theatre manager. He was the most prominent Ulster writer of the early twentieth century and a major Irish dramatist whose work influenced the plays of W. B. Yeats and Sean O'Casey. The Wayward Man was among the first novels to explore the character, and conflicts, of Belfast.
Man and Superman is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903, in response to a call for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 21 May 1905 as a four-act play produced by the Stage Society, and then by John Eugene Vedrenne and Harley Granville-Barker on 23 May, without Act III. A part of the third act, Don Juan in Hell, was performed when the drama was staged on 4 June 1907 at the Royal Court. The play was not performed in its entirety until 1915, when the Travelling Repertory Company played it at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.
F. J. McCormick was an Irish actor who became known for his work at Dublin's Abbey Theatre. He acquired the stage name F.J. McCormick to disguise his identity from his current and future employers, and to avoid parental disapproval. He joined the Abbey at age 19, and acted in some 500 productions there. He is especially remembered for his work in the plays of Seán O'Casey.
John Bosco Hogan is an Irish stage, film, and television actor.
Walter Macken, was born in Galway, Ireland. He was a writer of short stories, novels and plays.
Michael Joseph Molloy was an Irish playwright. He was born and died in Milltown, County Galway.
Janet Noble is an American playwright, screenwriter and journalist. She is the daughter of George and Stella Noble, and is the mother of artist, Noon Gourfain. She lives in NYC.
Harry Brogan was an Irish actor often in comic roles. He was part of the Abbey Theatre from 1939 - 1976.
Deirdre Donnelly is an Irish actress, based in Dublin who works in television, films and theatre.
Liam Gaffney was an Irish stage, film and television actor. His stage work included appearances with Dublin's Abbey Theatre, and in London's West End.
Sean Kenny was an Irish theatre and film scenic designer, costume designer, lighting designer and director.
Phyllis Ryan was an Irish actress, founder, producer, dramaturg and artistic director. During 1936–1944 and 2000 she was involved with the Abbey Theatre where she appeared in many productions. In 1939 she toured with the Abbey Theatre and appeared in a production by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy called The King of Spain's Daughter; there were 16 performances in all from September to November.
The Abbey Experimental Theatre Company was a small company run by a group of young actors associated with the Peacock Theatre in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland.
Áine Ní Mhuirí is an Irish actress. She began her career at the Damer Theatre, later working in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Áine is a fluent Irish language speaker.
Alan Simpson (1921–1980) was an Irish theatre director.
Paul Mercier is an Irish playwright screenwriter, film and theatre director. Born in Dublin and living in An Cheathrú Rua he was the founder member and Artistic Director of the Passion Machine Theatre Company, and is a Director with Anne Gately of the film production company An Pointe Productions. His work is known for its gritty poetic realism and examination of ordinary, contemporary Irish life.
May Craig (1889–1972) was an Irish actress. She was born in Dublin.
Eileen Aice Izabella Crowe was an Irish actress. She was born Dublin, Ireland. She was married to Peter Judge, an actor whose stage name was F. J. McCormick.
Michael Paul Grace ll was the producer of the Broadway shows King of Friday's Men (1951) and John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1953).