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St John Greer Ervine

ST JOHN GREER ERVINE

  (1883 - 1971)
Nationality:    Irish
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    The Society of Authors  

Playwright, novelist, biographer and critic St John Greer ervine was born in Ballymacarret, east Belfast, in 1883. although accepted to study at Trinity, circumstances forced him to leave school at the age of 15 to begin working in an insurance office. Two years later, he immigrated to London, where he discovered a love for the Theatre. ervine began his writing career with Mixed Marriage (1911), an Ulster tragedy and produced three plays between 1911 and 1915. In 1915, after a meeting with William Butler Yeats in London, ervine became the director of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It was however, not a happy appointment as ervine's personality and politics clashed with the management of the Theatre in Dublin. ervine then joined the Dublin Fusiliers and fought in Flanders, losing a leg in the conflict. Returning home, ervine felt increasingly alienated by nationalism and more attracted to the unionism of his family background. He became a vehement detractor of the south, describing Ireland in a letter to George Bernard Shaw as brimming with bleating Celtic Twilighters, sex-starved Daughters of the Gael, gangsters and gombeen men'. ervine was a distinctively Ulster orientated writer, focusing on a naturalistic portrayal of rural and urban life. His most famous and popular work amongst his Northern Irish audience was Boyd's Shop (1936), which became one of the Ulster Group Theatre's stalwart productions. the play is a classic of the homely yet sincere Ulster genre and centres around the struggles of the folk that ervine grew up with in his grandmother's shop on the albertbridge Road. ervine created in Boyd's Shop a template for Ulster Theatre that was to dominate until the advent of Over the Bridge. ervine's reactionary unionism and anti-southern hatred became more pronounced as he aged and eclipsed his more subtle characteristics and abilities as a writer. although many of his novels and plays were at times clouded by his prejudices, they were also very often capable of tremendous feeling and humanity showing he was a writer of note. ervine died in 1971.
http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/416/st-john-greer-ervine

Research:    http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=7002

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below is a list of St John Greer Ervine's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Anthony And Anna         Ballyfarland's Festival         Boyd's Shop         Christies, The         Compensation         Critics, The         Esperanza         First Mrs Fraser, The         Friends And Relations         Isa Blackwood         Island Of Saints And How To Get Out Of It, The         Jane Clegg         John Ferguson         Lady Of Belmont, The         Magnanimous Lover, The         Martha         Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary         Mixed Marriage         Mrs Martin's Man         My Brother Tom         Ole George Comes To Tea         Orangeman, The         People Of Our Class         Private Enterprise         Progress         Robert's Wife         Sauce For the Goose         She Was No Lady         Ship, The         Who Sups With the Devil         William John Mawhinney         Wonderful Visit, The

Anthony And Anna

Anthony And Anna
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, and, Macmillan, New York (1925)   -

Music:
-

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Ballyfarland's Festival

Synopsis:
Modest grocer John McMichael captures notorious burglar Red Dan. He immediately becomes a local hero. the town elders see commercial possibilities in this - something to bring in tourists. they claim that John is a descendant of the McMichael who really won the American War of Independence. they urge John to stand for Parliament - but he urges people not to vote for him as he prefers a life out of the limelight in his grocery shop

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Ulster Group theatre    02 May 1953

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
unpublished script in Theatre and Performing Arts archive of Northern Ireland   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
full length play

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Boyd's Shop

Boyd's Shop
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Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, and, Macmillan, New York (1936)
Selected plays of St John ervine, Colin Smythe Limited, 1988   978-0-86140-101-8

Music:
-

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Genre:
full length play

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Christies, The

Synopsis:
the village has a new grocery shop. the owner of the new shop falls in love with the daughter of his rival shopkeeper

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, 1949   -

Music:
-

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Compensation

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
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1st Produced:
performed privately, actresses' Franchise League    1911

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Critics, The

Synopsis:
Four critics arrive to review a new play - "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Four Irish Plays, Maunsel, Dublin and London, and, Macmillan, New York 1914   -

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
one act morality play

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Esperanza

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
unperformed    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Further Reference:
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First Mrs Fraser, The

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Chatto and Windus, London, 1929, and Macmillan, New york, 1930   -

Music:
-

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Friends And Relations

Friends And Relations
the family gather for the reading of Samuel Lepper's will. To their horror they are left nothing and everything goes to a daughter they never knew Lepper had

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, 1947
Selected plays of St John ervine, Colin Smythe Limited, 1988   978-0-86140-101-8

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
3 act comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Isa Blackwood

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
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1st Produced:
performed privately    1914

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Island Of Saints And How To Get Out Of It, The

Synopsis:
Robert McGrum returns from the United States rich but ill. His old rival John Cairns sees this as indicative of the malaise of the US. His son however sees the States as his way of escape from the constant fighting between the Orangemen and Republicans

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
one act play

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jane Clegg

Jane Clegg
Jane Clegg eventually summons up enough courage to throw out her worthless husband

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Gaiety, Manchester    21 Apr 1913

Organisations:
a Miss Horniman's Company production.

1st Published:
H Holt, New York, 1914
Selected plays of St John ervine, Colin Smythe Limited, 1988   978-0-86140-101-8

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
full length play

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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John Ferguson

John Ferguson
A brutal landowner is murdered by the brother of a young woman he seduced

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Maunsel, Dublin and London, and, Macmillan, New York, 1915
Selected plays of St John Ervine, Colin Smythe Limited, 1988   978-0-86140-101-8

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
full length play

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lady Of Belmont, The

Synopsis:
A sequel to Shakespeare's "the Merchant of Venice"

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, and, Macmillan, New York (1923)   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
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Magnanimous Lover, The

Synopsis:
Henry Hynde returns to his home village ten years after running away and leaving his pregnant girlfriend Maggie Cather. He has returned to make an honest woman of her. But Maggie turns down his proposal because he would never see her as his equal

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Maunsel, Dublin and London, 1912   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
one act play

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Martha

Synopsis:
Martha devotes herself to looking after her thoughtless Father and other members of the family. Albert an adopted son returns - he had previously been thrown out of the family home. He tries to show Martha that she is nothing but a drudge to the unappreciative members of the family. News comes that Martha has inherited land in the United States. the family do everything to stop her going to claim her inheritance

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Ulster Group theatre    15 Aug 1955

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
full length play

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, and, Macmillan, New York (1923)   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Mixed Marriage

Mixed Marriage
as the city's factories come out on strike, John Rainey, the respected head of a Protestant family, acts to calm the sectarian tension being stirred up by politicians for their own ends. On the streets, Rainey successfully unites Catholic and Protestant against the machinations of the factory owners, the nationalists and the Orangemen. But at home, passions rise when Rainey discovers that his son wants to marry the beautiful, innocent Nora, a Catholic... Set in Ireland before partition, Mixed Marriage is a poetic tragedy - leavened with earthy humour - which dissects class and religious sectarianism through the breakdown of one ordinary family. It was a groundbreaking success in its time and established ervine as a great Irish writer.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Maunsel, Dublin, 1911
Selected plays of St John ervine, Colin Smythe Limited, 1988   978-0-86140-101-8

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
4 act play

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Mrs Martin's Man

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
adaptation, with John Boyd, ofervine's novel of that name

1st Produced:
Belfast    1954

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
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Parts:
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Further Reference:
-

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My Brother Tom

Synopsis:
After twenty years Joe returns to his home town that he left owing many debts and lots of ill feelings

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Ulster Group theatre    26 Mar 1952

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
3 act comedy

Parts:
Male:  11            Female:  9            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ole George Comes To Tea

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Four One-act Plays, George Allen and Unwin, London, and, Macmillan, New York (1928)   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
one act play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Orangeman, The

Synopsis:
A staunch Orangeman is confined to his bed on July 12th and cannot march. He tries to persuade his son to take his place - but the son is a Republican

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Four Irish Plays, Maunsel, Dublin and London, and, Macmillan, New York 1914   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
one act comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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People Of Our Class

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, 1936   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
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Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Private Enterprise

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, 1948   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
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Parts:
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Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Progress

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Four One-act Plays, George Allen and Unwin, London, and, Macmillan, New York (1928)   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
one act play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Robert's Wife

Synopsis:
A woman doctor wants to open a birth control clinic

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, and, Macmillan, New York (1938)   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sauce For the Goose

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
unperformed    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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She Was No Lady

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Four One-act Plays, George Allen and Unwin, London, and, Macmillan, New York (1928)   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
one act play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ship, The

Synopsis:
John Thurlow is the head of a firm that builds ocean liners. His son Jack has been to visit the World War One battlefields and has returned with a hatred of machinery. He refuses to join his father's firm but when his Father is taken ill he has no other choice but to take over

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Ulster (Literary)Theatre

1st Published:
George Allen and Unwin, London, and, Macmillan, New York (1923)   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
full length play

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Who Sups With the Devil

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1918

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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William John Mawhinney

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
comedy six scenes

Parts:
Male:  15            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Wonderful Visit, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
adaptation, with H G Wells, of the latter's novel of that name

1st Produced:
London    1921

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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