Ireland. Eire. Part III. Фомина И.В. - 12 стр.

House in Belfast. Dramas and comedies were performed, often by visiting com-
panies from London. One of the most significant developments was the found-
ing of the abbey theatre in Dublin as the vehicle for national revival.
       The Abbey Theatre opened its first permanent home in 1904; with play-
wrights of the caliber of Synge, Lady Gregory and Yeats, its productions added
much luster to the world of Irish arts. After the creation of the Irish Free State,
the abbey, like the country, became inward-looking, often putting on dramas de-
scribed as ‘by grocers, about grocers’. While much of the fire seeped from the
Abbey and it struggled to overcome the problem of its own real fire, attention
shifted elsewhere.
       Micheál MacLiammóir and Hilton Edwards were instrumental in found-
ing the Gate Theatre in Dublin, which from the start was more outward-looking
and international. Before World War II, it gave a young Orson Welles his start
in theatre. Today, the Abbey and Gate are still in existence, as are the Gaiety and
the Olympia (the latter was once a music hall when Dublin was full of such
theatres). New theatres in Dublin include the Tivoli in Francis Street, in the Lib-
erties and the Andrews Lane Theatre in the city centre. Outside Dublin, there
has been a great quickening of theatrical interest, with the Belltable theatre in
Limerick and especially the druid in Galway being crucibles of new acting and
production talent. Sligo has its Hawkswell Theatre, while in Cork the opera
house replaces an earlier, burned out edifice. Cork has several smaller theatre
venues. In Belfast, the Grand Opera House has been restored to all its Edward-
ian glory, while the Arts Theatre and the Lyric keep the theatrical flame alive.
The Theatre of the Lakes, Enniskillen, has a fine new auditorium.
       Since the founding of the abbey Theatre tradition, Ireland has given birth
to many outstanding acting talents. Stars such as Barry Fitzgerald, F.J. McCor-
mick and the Allgood sisters began their world-class careers with the Abbey
Theatre. Some, like Barry Fitzgerald, went on to find fame and fortune in Hol-
lywood. Maureen O’Hara also became a famous Hollywood film star. The Dub-
lin theatre provided many other renowned performers forty and fifty years ago,
of the caliber of Geraldine Fitzgerald, Micheál Mac Lammóir and Hilton Ed-
wards. Cyril Cusak, the grand old man of Irish theatre, now has three daughters
on the stage. Milo O’Shea has done much film and TV work outside Ireland, as
did the late Ray McAnally. Younger generations of actors and actresses have
been equally proficient, including Norman Rodway, Rosaleen Linehan and
Gabriel Byrne.
       Many of these actors and actresses have worked as much in films as in the
theatre. Ireland has had mixed fortunes with cinema, that twentieth century art
form. The first display of moving pictures was seen in Dublin in 1896, barely six
months after the process was unveiled in Paris, and in 1904, the first Irish com-
pany to exhibit and distribute films was set up. Here are many examples still
surviving of early films made in Ireland, such as Willy Reilly and his Colleen
Bawn, produced in 1920 by the Film Company of Ireland.
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