Juno and the Paycock

I transferred this some time ago, as a follow-up to my post of J. M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World, and then never posted it. I am here today to make amends and satisfy a promise made back in 2012.

Cusack and McKenna

Sean O'Casey's 1924 Juno and the Paycock is often considered a successor to Synge's 1907 masterpiece, and rightfully so, even though it is set in Dublin and Playboy in the rural west. Here the similarities are accentuated by the casting, with Siobhán McKenna, Marie Kean and producer Cyril Cusack among the cast, as they were in the Synge recording. Both productions are from 1955.

Like Playboy, this is a tragi-comedy among the working class with a female character as the fulcrum and ineffectual males. Here, McKenna (as Juno) is married to the loutish Captain Boyle (Seamus Kavanagh), with the setting amidst the Irish Civil War. As with the Synge play, the language is key to its success. This is not an easy play to bring off; the present cast succeeds beautifully. The recording has a spoken introduction by the playwright. The sound is good.

The download includes a booklet with O'Casey's preamble, essays, photos and a synopsis. I've included the text of the play from Project Gutenberg.

YouTube has the 1930 filmed adaptation, with the original Juno, Sara Allgood. It is directed by Alfred Hitchcock.