1 69
for the " Great Demonstration" .
)
A more extensive use of off-s tagevoices and sound-effects in The together wi th a somewhat
increased use of characters who make only one or two appearances
(
though the Barman and Rosie who provide the continui ty in Act2
are too important to be dismissed as supernum eries
)
obviously con-tribute to the impression that we are watching a whole society at
war. 'lhe key to this effect� however, is the handling of the basic ens emble -- and especially the c omic quartet of Fluther Good, Peter
Flynn , Mrs Gogan and the Covey. Ano ther factors of c ourse, is
(
asKrause notes
)
the increase in the number of se ttings , but as O'Casey.like Shaw , was obliged to wri te for proscenium theatres where the rule was no more than one setting to an act. this particular progression could no t go on indefini tely. O ' Casey was therefore
obliged to adopt other means in order to expand the scope of his drama still further.
What these were to be is s trongly sugges ted in The by
the use of express ionisti c elements such as " the s ilhouette of the
Speaker wi th his passionate rhetoric flashing intermittently through
Ac t
2 "27
to suggest the fanati cal , impersonal patrio tism behind theEas ter Rising. Denis Johns ton 1-1as virtually alone. among cri tics
at the time of the play ' s original produc tion in seeing which way
O ' Casey was going :
• • • it is becoming increasingly clear that as a realist
he i s an imposter. He will tell you the name and address of the person who has made each individual speech in any of his plays but we are no t deceived • • • His dialogue is
becoming a series of word-poems in dialect, his plots are disappearing and giving place to a form of undisguised Expressionism under the stress of a genius that is much
too insis tent and far too pregnant wi th meaning to be b ound by the four dismal walls of realism . It will be interes ting to s ee how long he will try to keep up so outrageous a pre tence .
Some two years later 0 ' Cas ey confirmed Johnston ' s insight with the nakedly expressioni sti c second �et of The Silver Tassie ( 1 928) and after this never returned to the naturalis tic s tyle for a full- lc.mgth play. The scope of hi s aobi tion and his des ire to break new
theatrical ground are apparent in his comments in his autobiography on the genesis of The Silver Tassi e .
He would show a wide expans e o f war in the mids t o f timorous hope and overweening fear ; amidst a galaxy of guns ;
silently show the garlanded horror of war • • • And he would do
i t in a new way. There was no importance in trying to do
the same thing again, letting the sec ond play imi tate the fi rs t and the third the second . He wanted a change from
what the Irish critics had call ed burlesque , pho tographic
realism, or slices of li.fe , though the manner and method of two of the plays were aa reali stic as the s cents s tealing from a gaudy bunch of blossoms . 29
Even though the effectiveness of the e econd ac t in the context of the other three comparatively naturali stic ac ts has been a matter for debate ever since the play was wri tten, 30 O ' Casey ' s change of manner was now unmistakable . However, as Krause has no ted .. he " did no t
become a doctrinaire Express ionis t" or " construct a theory of drama to explain his experiment . He had found a ne'I'T form, no t the
ultimate form of drama, and he reshaped i t and modified it according
to its funct ion in the symbolic s econd act . " 3 1 Non-realis tic
s tagecraft predominates in his subsequent plays but expressionism is
only one of the �yles he fus es wi th others to achieve , ultimately, a
new form of c omi c fantasy.
The post-Dublin plays are experimental and differ widely in their detailed technique , but they do have a number of broad features in c ommon. To quo te Krause again, O ' Casey " in all his plays us es multiple plots in a l oosely unified form, mingling comic and tragic
themes , farcical and melodramatic incidents , and playing them against each o ther in ironic counterpoint . " 32 In later plays , however ,
unity is achi eved less through plot and character than by the use
of various symboli c devices and pat terns . All these plays have a
central symbol whi ch inspires or sums up their action. These
symbols supply the ti tles and are usually pres ent in the
action as props , scenery, sound effect or as a character. 33 The
titles of The S ilver Tassie and Red Roses for Me belong t o ballads
which are sung in the plays and also refer to important props , " the s tar turns red" in the sky on Chris tmas morning as the vmrkers fight on agains t the Fascis ts f " the drums of Father Ned" sound out to encourage the young people preparL1g for the To stal , and the " c ock-a-
doodle dandy" cuts his capers in Marthraun ' s house and garden. These
ti tle-symbols inform the action of their plays � they do not enclose
it - except very broadly in 11/i thin the Gates where the Park presents in microcosm the life and world outside the gates .
In addi tion to the ti tle-symbols , progressive modifications
in the settings often underline the emotional patterns of the plays .
This technique is used in Juno and the where the living-room
of the Boyle ' s tenancy is firs t seen to be sparsely and poorly furnished, then vulgarly over-furnished and decorated , and finally
s tripped of nearly everything . In the symbolic plays such s cenic
comment is given greater s tress. Religious i conography silently
and ironically comments on each of the four ac ts of The Silver Tassie : in Ac t 1 i t takes the form of the " altar" dis playing Harry Heegan ' s foo tball medals and the cross-spar of the troop-ship mas t seen through
tlu:i centre window above the " altar" ; in Act 2 the setting is a ruined monas tery with a figure of the Virgin and a damaged life-sized
crucifix to one side. while at the back " in the centre where the