Janez Pipan's new directorial work with a somewhat provocative title already attracted extraordinary attention when it was first performed in Dublin over a century ago. The author John Millington Synage became famous overnight almost all over the globe not only for his talent and theatrical persuasiveness. Attention and...
Janez Pipan's new directorial work with a somewhat provocative title already attracted extraordinary attention when it was first performed in Dublin over a century ago. The author John Millington Synage became famous overnight almost all over the globe not only for his talent and theatrical persuasiveness. His opponents, who protested after the premiere, brought him attention and fame, and the nationalists of the time further fueled the opposition. The story of young Christy Mahon is a confirmation that any publicity, however negative, can bring success. Irish people were angry because the comedy tells the story of an alleged patricide. The story gets complicated when the aforementioned Christy orders a glass of beer from Pegeen, the innkeeper's daughter, in a pub on the Mayo coast. The innkeeper uses her sharp tongue to extract from Christy a confession that he is supposed to have killed his father with a shovel. A spark flies between the already engaged Pegeen and Christy, but rumors soon leak among the villagers that his father is not dead after all. When Father Mahon shows up in the village, Christy's dreams are over. The villagers accuse him of being a liar and a fraud. Christy raises her hand over her father again. We cannot be surprised that the unusual humor - in the Irish countryside it is clearly better to be a murderer than a liar - upset the public, but at the same time we can admire the author's ear for the bizarreness of human nature.
