Sean O'Casey

Irish playwright. Born as the youngest child of a large Protestant family living in the slums of Dublin. After losing his father at an early age, he worked odd jobs, participated in the labor movement and the independence movement from British rule in his native country, and changed his name from John to a more ethnic one. He was mostly self-taught, and freely familiarized himself with the Bible, read and performed Shakespeare, but after becoming disillusioned with political partisanship, he began to seriously write plays. With the advice of playwright Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory (1852-1932) and Yeats, he worked hard to create characters based on slum life, and his fourth play, In the Shadow of a Gunman (1923), was performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, the mecca of modern Irish drama, and his next play, Juno and the Peacock (1924), was a great success and contributed to the theater's finances. The Plough and the Stars (1926) even led to a brawl between supporters and critics in the audience, but the theater refused to allow his Silver Cup (1928), which leaned from a realistic style to an expressionistic one. As a result, he, who loved the people of his homeland but was also a calm observer, decided to live in England permanently in search of a place to work. The Silver Cup premiered in London the following year, 1929, and was later performed at the Abbey Theatre. Subsequent works include The Red Dust (1940) and The Bishop's Bonfire (1955). Considered to be Synge's successor, he wrote an autobiography in six volumes (1939-1954) based on his experiences in Ireland during a time of upheaval, and influenced by the legends of his home country, Christianity, and Marx. His writings are filled with laughter, sadness, anger and pity, and depict the struggle between the forces of life and death.

[Yasuna Mori]

"Okeishii" by W. A. ​​Armstrong, translated by Yushi Odashima (1971, Kenkyusha Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アイルランドの劇作家。ダブリンのスラム街に住む子だくさんな新教徒の末子として生まれる。早く父を亡くして以後、雑役などで働き、労働運動や祖国のイギリス支配からの独立運動に参加、名もJohnから民族風に改めた。ほとんど独学で自由に聖書に親しみ、シェークスピアを読み、あるいは演じたが、政治の党派性に幻滅したのち、本格的に劇作に取り組んだ。劇作家のグレゴリー夫人Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory（1852―1932）やイェーツの助言で、スラム生活に取材して人物造形に努力した4本目の『革命戦士(ガンマン)の影』（1923）が、アイルランド近代劇のメッカ、ダブリンのアベイ劇場で上演され、次の『ジュノーと孔雀(くじゃく)』（1924）は大好評で、劇場の財政にも寄与した。『鋤(すき)と星』（1926）では客席で支持者と批判派との乱闘までみられたが、写実的傾向から表現主義的作風に傾いた『銀杯』（1928）は劇場側から上演を拒否された。そのため故国の民衆を愛しつつも、冷静な観察者でもある彼は、仕事の場を求めて、イギリス永住を決意した。『銀杯』は翌1929年にロンドンで初演され、のちアベイ劇場でも上演された。以後の作品には『紅塵(こうじん)』（1940）、『僧正のかがり火』（1955）などがある。シングの後継者と目され、激変期のアイルランドでの体験に基づき、故国の伝説、キリスト教、マルクスなどの影響の下に、笑いと悲しさ、怒りと哀れみの分かちがたい作風で生と死の力のせめぎあいを描き、『扉を叩(たた)く』以下全6巻の自伝（1939～1954）も残した。

［森　康尚］

『W・A・アームストロング著、小田島雄志訳『オケイシイ』（1971・研究社出版）』

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