Word: conchubar
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Dates: during 1953-1953
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...only intelligence that exists for them is that of cunning or wise counsel in the art of war. The mind alone, the scholar, the academician, even the satirist is not mocked or belittled--he just does not exist. The play On Baile's Strand sees Cuchalain, the brave, and Conchubar, the wise, parodied by a fool and a blind beggar as a counterpoise. But Yeats is not laughing at his heroes; he is ironically presenting the extremes and tacitly assuming his ideal universal. For his poetry to hit the listener at full power, it must be completely accepted in this...
...best in On Baile's Strand, which sees the hero inadvertently murder his son, then go mad battling vainly against the sea. In this, the second of the four plays, Richard Eder is also outstanding as he crafty sightless man, who like Ireland's High King Conchubar both fears and mocks Cuchalain. Chris Beels plays the king. In this and also as the old man in At the Hawk's Well, both his speech and acting are intelligent interpretations of two characters who are despised, yet strangely accepted by Yeats...
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