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Denis Johnston

DENIS JOHNSTON

  (1901 - 1984)
Nationality:    Irish
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Invaluable help with this entry was received from Rory Johnston. rory7@sbcglobal.net

Denis Johnston (June 18, 1901 - august 8, 1984) was an Irish Dramatist whose first play helped establish the worldwide reputation of the Dublin Gate Theatre, and whose second has been performed around the globe in numerous productions, starring Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, James Mason and errol Flynn among others. He was a protege of Yeats and Shaw, and had a stormy friendship with Sean O'Casey. He was a pioneer of television and war reporting. He worked as a barrister in the 1920s and 1930s before joining the BBC as a writer and producer, first in radio and then in the fledgling television service. During the Second World War he served as a BBC war correspondent, reporting from el alamein to Buchenwald. For this he was awarded an OBe and a Mention in Dispatches. He then became Director of Programmes for the television service. He later moved to the United States and taught at Mount Holyoke College, Smith College and other universities. He kept extensive diaries throughout his life, now deposited in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and these together with his many articles and essays give an distinctive picture of his times and the people he knew. He received honorary degrees from the University of Ulster and Mount Holyoke College. the Play the Ulysses in Nighttown is often wrongly accreidted to Johnston. Rory Johnston states "the Ulysses in Nighttown produced in New York 1958, starring Zero Mostel, was adapted by Marjorie Barkentin. My father consulted with the director Burgess Meredith on the staging and may have made some suggestions as to the script, but he is not mentioned in the programme. He had a copy of the script in his papers (now at Univ. of Ulster Coleraine) but with the title page missing, so when Joseph Ronsley was going through the papers it appears he wrongly assumed that DJ wrote it. He put this into "Denis Johnston: a Retrospective" and the error has propagated from there."

Research:    http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=7307

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below is a list of Denis Johnston's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Blind Man's Buff         Bride For the Unicorn, A         Dreaming Dust, The         Finnegans Wake         Fourth For Bridge, A         Golden Cuckoo, The         Moon In the Yellow River, The         Nine Rivers From Jordan         Old Lady Says "No!", The         Scythe And the Sunset, The         Six Characters In Search Of An Author         Six Characters In Search Of An Author         Storm Song         Strange Occurrence On Ireland's Eye         Tain Bo Cuailgne

Blind Man's Buff

Blind Man's Buff
Play about a murder trial

Notes:
Original Playwright - ernst Toller. based on Toller's Die blinde Gottin (the Blind Goddess)

1st Produced:
Abbey Theatre, Dublin >>>    11 Jan 1937

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Jonathan Cape, London, 1938   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  18            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 53.259

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Bride For the Unicorn, A

Bride For the Unicorn, A
John Foss finds ideal love as a teenager. He looses it but finds it again in death

Notes:
a revised version of the play was performed in 1935.

1st Produced:
Gate Theatre, Dublin >>>    09 May 1933

Organisations:
edwards-Mac Liammoir Gate Theatre Productions

1st Published:
Jonathan Cape, London, 1935
Revised version published 1979 in the Dramatic Works of Denis Johnston, Vol. Two, Colin Smythe (including substantial number of printer's errors)    -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Imaginary adventure in play form

Parts:
Male:  16            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dreaming Dust, The

Dreaming Dust, The
Play about Jonathan Swift

Notes:
First published (revised version) 1954, Jonathan Cape Other versions, some entitled Weep for the Cyclops, performed on stage, TV And radio, And published by Cape, And Colin Smythe, 1977

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Jonathan Cape, London, 1954
Selected plays of Denis Johnston, Colin Smythe Limited,1983   0-86140-123-9

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:
Tragedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Finnegans Wake

Synopsis:
Stage adaptation of excerpts from Joyce's book, based on Mary Manning's the Voice of Shem

Notes:
script Available from rory7@sbcglobal.net

1st Produced:
Yale Drama Festival, New Haven Connecticut    1957

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  9            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Fourth For Bridge, A

Synopsis:
One-act play on World War II

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
BBC Television with the title the Unthinking Lobster    1948

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Jonathan Cape, London, 1954   -

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:
War Play One act

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Golden Cuckoo, The

Golden Cuckoo, The
-

Notes:
Revised version published 1979, Colin Smythe

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Jonathan Cape, London, 1954
Selected plays of Denis Johnston, Colin Smythe Limited,1983   0-86140-123-9

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:
Tragic Comedy Tragedy

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Moon In the Yellow River, The

Moon In the Yellow River, The
-

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:
Irish Tragic Comedy

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Nine Rivers From Jordan

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
based on his book of the same title; music by Hugo Weisgall. Revised version published in Dramatic Works of Denis Johnston, Vol. 2, Colin Smythe

1st Produced:
New York City Opera, New York    1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
theodore Presser, Bryn Mawr Pa, 1968   -

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:
Opera libretto Opera

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Old Lady Says "No!", The

Old Lady Says
expressionist satire on the myth of Ireland

Notes:
revised versions published by Cape, And by Colin Smythe, 1977

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Jonathan Cape, London, 1932
Selected plays of Denis Johnston, Colin Smythe Limited,1983   978-0813207517

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:
Satire, 2 acts Satire

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Scythe And the Sunset, The

Scythe And the Sunset, The
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Poets' Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts.    1958

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Collected Plays", Cape, London, 1960
Selected plays of Denis Johnston, Colin Smythe Limited,1983   0-86140-123-9

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Six Characters In Search Of An Author

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Luigi Pirandello

1st Produced:
Mount Holyoke College Ma    1950

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:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Six Characters In Search Of An Author

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
based on Pirandello's play (completely different from his translation of play) Music by Hugo Weisgall

1st Produced:
New York City Opera    1959

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Merion Music, Bryn Mawr Pa, 1957   -

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:
Opera libretto Opera

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Storm Song

Storm Song
about the making of a film in the west of Ireland, based on the story of Robert Flaherty

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Jonathan Cape, London, 1935   -

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Strange Occurrence On Ireland's Eye

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
the title reference is to A newspaper headline

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Collected Plays Vol.2" Cape, London, 1960   -

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  19            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tain Bo Cuailgne

Synopsis:
Pageant on the story of Cuchulainn, hero of Ulster

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Dublin    1956

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Dramatic Works 2", Colin Smythe, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, 1979   -

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:
Pageant

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  Cast of several dozen principals and hundreds of extras

Further Reference:
-

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