Theatre business : the correspondence of the first Abbey Theatre directors : William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, and J.M. Synge /

The letters published here record the devotion of all three Abbey Theatre directors to what Yeats called "Theatre business, management of men," while they celebrate that independence of mind and taste admired by Yeats.

The years reflected in the letters--from the opening of the Abbey Theatre in 1904 to Synge's death in 1909--are historical significance not only to the Irish literary movement but also to the worldwide little theater and art movements emerging in the early twentieth century. These movements reflect, in the editor's words, "a turning-away from sterile compromise towards a re-examination and re-rooting of culture"; in Yeats's words, "Repelled by what had seemed the sole reality, we had turned to romantic dreaming, to the nobility of tradition."

Following an introduction to the three directors--as well as other Abbey stalwarts including the Fays and O'Casey--the collection first presents letters written between 1897 and the theater's opening in December 1904. Then follows correspondence reflecting both the day to day struggles and the excitement of a pioneering theatrical enterprise. The letters are annotated and are accompanied by A selective Bibliography and Chronology of Significant Events.

When Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, he chose to accept it on behalf of the Irish dramatic movement and his fellow-workers.