by W. B. Yeats
Directors:
Paul Baker
Susan Harris
CAST
(in order of appearance)
Aoife (EE-fuh)………………………………………………….Rachel Baker
Cuchulain (cuh-HOO-lin)…………………………………Peter A. Thomas
Fool…………………………………………………………………Maggie Swanson
Blind Man………………………………………………………..Ashley Mister
Conchubar (CON-uh-hur)……………………………….Geri Hudson
Laegaire (LIE-uh-ree)……………………………………Mark Johnson
Kings…..Corinna Christman, Andre Hogan, Bill Hohnke, Bobbie Lyons, Terry Vasilopoulos
Woman #1…………………………………………………….. Rachel Baker
Woman #2………………………………………………………Elena Jimenez
Woman #3………………………………………………………Yvonne Webb
Young Man……………………………………………………..Stefania Gomez
Original music composed by Jenne Lennon
Musicians: Jenne Lennon (piano and vocals), Corinna Christman (violin), William Hohnke (drums)
Costumes designed and created by Mary McCarthy
Make up by Terrie Vasilopoulos
Sound design by Joe Plummer
Set flats courtesy of the University Theater
Set design by Mark Johnson et alia
Swords courtesy of the University Theater
Director’s Notes for On Baile’s Strand
On Baile’s Strand is the first of five plays that William Butler Yeats wrote about the legendary Irish warrior-hero Cuchulain. Cuchulain’s father was the sun god, Lug; his mother was human. Being half-divine gave Cuchulain a distinct advantage in a culture that valued physical strength and skill in battle. In the heat of combat, Cuchulain became possessed by a “battle-fury” that distorted his body and terrified his enemies. Cuchulain was equally volatile off the battlefield; many stories have come down to us of Cuchulain’s uncontrollable rages and the ruses to which his comrades resorted in order to contain them. In On Baile’s Strand, however, Yeats emphasizes the hero’s human side. If On Baile’s Strand still works at this time and in this place, it is because this tale of ancient Irish heroes is also a powerful story about love and loss—about the messiness of human relationships and the terrible choices we are forced to make.
The tale that inspired On Baile’s Strand dates from the ninth or tenth century. It was recorded in the fourteenth-century Yellow Book of Lecan; but Yeats, who never learned Irish, probably encountered it first in Jeremiah Curtin’s 1889 Myths and Folklore of Ireland. Yeats’s friend and fellow-playwright Lady Augusta Gregory included her own version of the story in her 1902 book Cuchulain of Muirthemne, which clearly influenced the plot of On Baile’s Strand. Yeats made his own changes, expanding the role of the High King Conchubar and inventing the characters of the Fool and the Blind Man.
Our production introduces a more modest innovation. In Yeats’s text, there is much talk of a warrior queen from Scotland named Aoife. Aoife’s actions drive the play’s plot, but Aoife herself never appears. We have brought Aoife into the play through a prologue that tells the story of her encounter with Cuchulain, which took place years before the play begins. Our only other innovation is a deliberate decision not to use Irish accents. We feel that Yeats’s verse will sound better spoken with an authentic American accent than it would with a patently false stage-Irish brogue.
On Baile’s Strand was first performed in 1904 by the Irish National Theatre Society as part of the inaugural production of Dublin’s illustrious Abbey Theatre. Though the INTS would soon become a national institution, it began life as something not unlike a community theater. When it was founded in 1902 by the Irish actor Frank Fay and his brother William, the INTS was a group of committed amateurs bound by a shared dedication to theater and to the cause of Irish nationalism. They worked full-time at their day jobs and rehearsed at night—often in someone’s living room. When writing On Baile’s Strand, in fact, Yeats seems to have kept in mind a 1901 article in which Frank Fay warned Ireland’s aspiring playwrights that if their plays were to be performed in Ireland by Irish actors, they would “have to be acted by amateurs.” So avoid complicated scene changes, Fay said, because “amateurs always play on small stages;” and if you must kill a character then do it offstage, because death scenes are hard, even for professionals. So, along with all our other acknowledgments, we would like to say a special thank you to Frank Fay. We couldn’t have done this play without him.
Finally, we would like to thank Elston Ace Hardware, the Experimental Station, Backstory Cafe, Hyde Park Produce, Caffe Florian, and the many other local businesses who have donated goods and services to the Hyde Park Community Players. We would also like to thank Peter Thomas for the many hours he devoted to building our set. And, in addition to Paul and the cast and crew, I would like to thank my wife Liza and my daughter Zoe. I could not have done this without their love, support, and generosity. Thank you both for giving me the time I needed to be a part of this show. I will be home for bedtime from now on.
Susan Harris