In 1904, WB Yeats and Lady Gregory founded the Abbey Theatre as a national theatre for Ireland. The theatre opened on 27 December of that year with plays by Yeats and Gregory, including their joint artistic venture, the nationalist allegory Cathleen Ní Houlihan. The Abbey played a major role in the Irish Literary Revival, and its performances inspired revolutionary sentiment, creating controversies along the way. At the 1907 premiere of The Playboy of the Western World by director JM Synge, the theatre erupted in riots at the word ‘shift’. The audience, who were offended by the play’s depiction of the Irish as reckless and violent, believed that the reference to a woman’s undergarment compromised the chastity of Irish women. The Abbey Theatre continues that tradition of cultural engagement today, enriching and challenging its audiences in equal measure.
