This volume contains the three plays commonly recognized as the height of O'Casey's achievement as a playwright. His tragi-comedy has relevance to the violent politics in the North and the post-nationalist bewilderments in the Republic.
A large number of critics who have tried to penetrate the complexity of Sean O'Casey's theatrical works have been fighting against a matter which seems to reject every easy outline and label. They seem to be shaped by a deep will to experiment which leads the author to embrace theatrical forms and techniques very different from each other. This is why almost all of his plays appear full of contradictory elements and tendencies, traumatic breaks and bold innovations. After his "explosion" at the Abbey Theatre of Dublin with the vigorous realism of his trilogy, O'Casey abandons this reassuring haven – it was probably too reassuring for his restlessness – and begins his collection of "experimental" plays, starting with The Silver Tassie (1929) and going on with Within the Gates (1910), The Star Turns Red, 1940, Red Roses For Me (1912)...
The author draws on his own combat experiences to offer an insider's look at the role of a HOG (Hunter of Gunman) sniper in Operation Iraqi Freedom, detailing the work of a Marine Scout/Sniper team and the perils they confronted on the battlefield.
"Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York, in 2013."
This book details the Irish socialistic tracks pursued by Bernard Shaw and Sean O’Casey, mostly after 1916, that were arguably impacted by the executed James Connolly. The historical context is carefully unearthed, stretching from its 1894 roots via W. B. Yeats’ dream of Shaw as a menacing, yet grinning sewing machine, to Shaw’s and O’Casey’s 1928 masterworks. In the process, Shaw’s War Issues for Irishmen, Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress, The Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman, Saint Joan, The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, and O’Casey’s The Story of the Irish Citizen Army, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars, and The Silver Tassie are reconsidered, revealing previously undiscovered textures to the masterworks. All of which provides a rethinking, a reconsideration of Ireland’s great drama of the 1920s, as well as furthering the knowledge of Shaw, O’Casey, and Connolly.
The shadow of a gunman - Juno and the paycock - The plough and the stars - The silver Tassie - Red roses for me - Cock-a-doodle dandy - The bishop's bonfire.