Isabella Augusta Persse, Also Known

Isabella Augusta Persse, also known as Lady Gregory, was an essential character in the Irish theatre world and played an important role in assisting Irish individuals develop a taste for the art. She was born on March 15, 1852, in Roxborough, Galway, in a turbulent environment involving Irish people being unhappy with their general condition and wanting to get actively involved in going against their English oppressors. Although it would be difficult to determine the exact role she played in Irish-English conflicts, it is only safe to say that she influenced her countrymen to develop a sentiment of pride regarding their background and the importance of cultural values.

Lady Gregory was particularly interested in theatre and actually composed a series of plays that were closely connected to Irish literature and history. "In 1898 she met William Butler Yeats, and together they helped to found in 1902 the Irish National Theatre Society, which became the nucleus of the Abbey Theatre Company" (Gassner 402). Lady Gregory stayed with the theatre as a director until 1928, when she retired, and is one of the persons responsible for significantly boosting the institution's image. The moment when she brought the theatre to the U.S. was surely one of great significance, as it emphasized the strong sentiments that a series of Irishmen in the U.S. had concerning their home and the people involved in promoting Irish culture in America.

In addition to being involved in the Abbey Theatre Company's administrative side, Lady Gregory also produced a series of impressive plays. "Spreading the News" (1904) and "The Rising of the Moon" (1907) are two of the most significant plays in English culture. By relating to some rather simple aspects of Irish life, Lady Gregory wanted audiences to get actively involved in appreciating their culture.

Edmund John Millington Synge was one of the key individuals in the history of Irish theatre, taking into account that his plays practically revived Irish Literary Revival. He was born in 1871 in an Anglo-Irish family, but most of his plays are focused on discussing with regard to the Irish part of his background. In spite of his intellect, he spent most of his life travelling and receiving little to no recognition for his work. His education at the Trinity College in Dublin did not actually assist him in boosting his career and he felt that it had actually had very little effect on how he later perceived the social order.

It was not until W.B. Yeats discovered him in 1899 that Synge actually came to be able to put his thinking into practice. Yeats acknowledged that Synge was a true genius when regarding things from an artistic point-of-view and insisted that they develop a collaboration in bringing life to the Irish theatre environment. "For some time after his return Synge spent his time renewing his kinship with Ireland, sensing the life and belief of its peasantry" (JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE).

Many critics believe The Playboy of the Western World to be one of the most significant of Synge's plays. Synge's work was accompanied by strong critique from behalf of the masses in both Dublin and Philadelphia. People felt that the play was immoral and that it was thus likely to instill confusion in individuals who were vulnerable to being influenced by the playwright's corrupted thinking.

William Butler Yeats was one of the foremost individuals in the Irish Theatre environment and also played an important role in the English and Irish literary movement. He joined Lady Gregory in founding the Abbey Theatre and Synge in creating the Irish Literary Revival movement. Yeats believed that many Irishmen failed to understand the bigger scheme of things because they were obsessed with topics that were haunting their country's culture for several years. He wanted to bring on new cultural values with the purpose of influencing people to acknowledge that Ireland was actually filled with cultural values.

Yeats was a patriot and part of the reason why he was involved in the Irish theatre environment was because he wanted to use this chance as a means to instill deep feelings in his countrymen. He created a series of parallels between simple Irish life and art in an attempt to secure the concept of theatre and to encourage people that it was in their best interest to embrace it.