Word: paycock
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Casey is a hero to his mirror. Yet he has reason above vanity for some of his pride; he climbed out of the Dublin slums to the fameupholstered penthouse of playwriting, leaving at least two masterpieces to mark the trail, i.e., The Plough and the Stars, Juno and the Paycock. Along the way he has also taken on a habit of piling chips on his shoulders and wearing them like epaulettes. The Green Crow is largely a dress parade of pet peeves, mostly in the form of journalistic pieces on the theater, actors, critics, fellow playwrights and, Lord have mercy...
Still the "Paycock." Yet there is precious little laughter in the four short stories with which O'Casey ends his book. Each of the tales pictures a helpless bit of humanity fluttering in the cage of need. Best of the lot is I Wanna Woman, in which a young Londoner, whose girl friend fails to keep a date, spends the night with a Piccadilly prostitute and wakes to a racking hangover of disgust and remorse...
...Gates in 1934 has Sean O'Casey had a "new" play produced on Broadway. Of those waiting without the gates, Red Roses scarcely deserves to be admitted first. It has much that is indi vidual, and at its best evokes the vernacular glories of Juno and the Paycock. But it is chiefly a reminder of how distinguished O'Casey can be; it has no sustained distinction...
...that Red Roses for Me lacks the vitality of the earlier plays, for it is still the familiar O'Casey combination of humor and tragedy. The humor is more subdued now, however, and the terrible urgency that marked Juno and the Paycock has given way to a more somber and reflective atmosphere. As part of the change in tone, O'Casey adopts a prose style that is rich in metaphor and, at times, very close to poetry. The plot, in contrast, is extremely simple, telling the story of a young railroad worker with artistic inclina-who leaves his ambitions...
Walt Whitman would be a pretty good antidote for the world's present troubles, thought Irish Playwright Sean (Juno and the Paycock) O'Casey, who set his idea to a little rhyme for the New Statesman and Nation...