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Origins:

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The founding of the Theatre is also connected with a broader wave of change found in European drama at the end of the nineteenth century. The founding of Théâtre Libre in Paris in 1887 and the work of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1895 represented a challenge to a “stale metropolitanism". This movement echoes Lady Gregory's commitment and determination to make the Abbey Theatre a theatre for the people.

1930s-1950s
During the 1940s and 1950s, there was a steady decline in the number of new productions. There were 104 new plays produced from 1930-1940, whereas this number dropped to 62 for 1940-1950. Thereafter, there was another decrease. However, the theatre was undeterred by the dwindling amount of productions of original plays, and had their audience numbers increase. The attitude of the general public had vastly changed towards the Abbey since the beginning of the century. It was no longer reserved as a theatre for the rich and for a small clique of intellectuals, it had become a theatre for the people. The plays of O'Casey and Lennox Robinson that were being produced by theatre at the time most likely aided in this shift. Larger audiences also brought a change in the Abbey's repertory policy. Rather than the theatre's old system of limiting the initial run of a new play to week, no matter how popular the play became, the Abbey ran their new plays until their audience was exhausted. This change in policy which was brought about partly because of the shortage of new plays was to have serious consequences in future years when the Abbey found its stock of popular revivals exhausted.

Foundation:

The press was impressed with the building , and the Cork Constitution wrote that "the theatre has neither orchestra nor bar, and the principle entrance is through a building which was formerly the Dublin morgue". The theatre goers were surprised and thought it to be scandalous that part of the theatre used to be a morgue. The orchestra was established under the guidance of Dr John F Larchet.

Origins[edit]
Lady Gregory envisioned a society promoting "ancient idealism" dedicated to crafting works of Irish theatre pairing Irish culture with European theatrical methods.

Early years[edit]
In the early years there were challenges in finding plays by Irish playwrights, and so the founders established guidelines for playwrights submitting plays and wrote some plays themselves. The emergence of the theatre, the challenge of finding plays by Irish playwrights, the protests surrounding Playboy of the Western World, and the work of the Irish Theatre were key developments during this time. As one of the first directors of the new Abbey Theatre, Lady Gregory exchanged correspondence with her counterparts W.B Yeats and JM Synge which chronicled the further development of the new Abbey Theatre including themes such as the critical reception of plays, the challenge of balancing state funding and artistic liberty, and the contributions of actors and others supporting the theatre. The new Abbey Theatre found great popular success, and large crowds attended many of its productions.

Article evaluation: The Abbey Theatre

CONTENT:

Everything seemed relevant to the topic of the Abbey Theatre. They haven't included moments of more recent history at the Abbey. It could be updated to the current calendar year.. Panti Bliss at the Last call

Hint at inclusivity:  an update would also give a hint to the increased inclusivity that has been involved at the Abbey Theatre

TONE: The tone of the article is neutral. The theatre is well-regarded however, the tone is neutral about this fact. When speaking about the many changes in the theatres staffing, as well as criticism the theater has been through, the tone is still neutral.

SOURCES:

The links work on all of the sources. I believe there could potentially be some better sources used to give evidence on how the Abbey was formed ie: Encyclopaedia britannica: Lady Gregory, Martyn, Yates : who founded the Abbey. Better sourcing and information for referring to the structure and the importance of the theatre as a building ie: Irishcultureandcustoms.com

TALK PAGE:

The article has only been recently updated for grammar issues. The article has a C-Class rating, and is a part of 2 Wiki Projects, .one in the Theatre domain and one in the Ireland domain