O'Casey Annual

30:1, Reviews although only the applicable parts of each story are carefully examined. On occasion, when he admits defeat, such an admission reveals both the lack of a theoretical base and a pigeonholing of each story as a discrete entity. "Exactly why Joyce transports the boys 'in the company of two labourers and a little Jew with a bag' remains an enigma to me" (41), he admits. (Joyce's sociographic sweep includes subtle awareness of others outside the confines of white, middle-class, Catholic Dublin: Miss Delacour assumed to be a Jewess, Gallaher's predilection for rich Jewesses, Mr. Goldberg, the "two work-girls and a mechanic," the Negro Chieftain, et al.) And at times Torchiana creates the evidence that will later support his thesis, as when he first notes the resemblance of the slavey to a mare ("what with muscular figure, wide nostrils, and projecting front teeth" [100]), and then has her as the victim of St. George's sword ("the sticking of the girl, described as a mare" [105]). For a survey of the historical and literary backgrounds to Dubliners, this sort of fancy is far too conjectural, even idiosyncratic. What should trouble us most about Backgrounds is that it displays telltale signs of the back burner on which it has been simmering. "Since writing these words I have also read Florence L. Walzl," Torchiana notes, citing a 1973 essay (19) "After writing these words, I came across a similar thought in John P. McKenna," a footnote tells us, citing a 1971 essay. And when Torchiana mentions "this year," the year is 1982—his dated acknowledgments are 1984—the book published in 1986. Shades of Rip Van Winkle. But worse still, the quotation of the word "ghastly" from "The Dead" indicates that the text used by Professor Torchiana precedes the definitive text published in 1967, where the word is "ghostly." Bernard Benstock _______________________________________University of Miami_____________ O'CASEY ANNUAL Robert G. Lowery, ed. O'Casey Annual No. 4. London: Macmillan; Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1985. $30.00 In 1948, seeking to glamorize a master's thesis, I mailed to Sean O'Casey two pages of questions on his writings. With herculean patience he answered them, although in a kindly postscript he said, "I don't like the idea of persons 'studying' me." Like it or not he has been studied, yet I think he would approve the contents of O'Casey Annual No. 4, edited by Robert Lowery. The articles are concerned less with decoding secret messages than with what may be called enrichment. And, like O'Casey's own work, some articles move with easy grace through a variety of topics. Part of David Krause's multi-faceted "Sean O'Casey and Alan Simpson" touches on the often adversarial relationship of dramatist and director. For several 101 30:1, Reviews years this was a topic of friendly debate between Krause and Simpson. Both were scholars, and Simpson, a director in English and Irish theatres, had staged such difficult writers as Behan and Beckett. He never directed an O'Casey play. In 1961 O'Casey denied him permission to do so, because he suspected a colleague of Simpson, at the Theatre Royal, London, of tampering with playscripts. In their discussions Krause, while recognizing O'Casey's imperfections, defended his theatrical unorthodoxies as constructive innovation. Simpson asserted the right, or duty, of a director to make amendments in the interest of topicality or of sound dramatic structure. Having endured some "revisionist" theatre, especially a tacky "updating" of The Mikado by one Peter Sellars, I am inclined to cast a cold eye on Simpson's thesis that the early plays of O'Casey can be enhanced by "timely modifications" (16). On the other hand, might some of O'Casey's innovations really be the result of faulty craftsmanship? Of examples of his indifference to the logistics of live performance which might be educed, one from Act 3 of Juno and the Paycock must suffice here. The unfortunate actor playing Jerry Devine is wedged helplessly in the doorway while Mary Boyle recites eighteen lines of heartfelt but execrable poetry. In cases like this, merciful intervention by a director is in...