The title, "The Inception of the Abbey Theater," is accurate in reviewing the history of The Abbey Theatre. The paper outlines forces driving the Irish dramatic movement and creation of the Irish National Theatre. This research thoroughly addresses the history of the building, and it's physical development into a theatre. The account also includes the primary figures who founded the Abbey and its artistic ideals. The playwrights and actors had different objectives which significantly conflicted with their patron and affected the theatre and its productions. The conflict appears to be the unstated thesis of this paper. However, several key points not addressed but directly relating to the this conflict-- specifically the relations between W. B. Yeats and their patron, Mrs. Annie Horniman, must be noted. This difference of opinions surfaced before the "inception," continued for the duration of the theatre's existance, and involved a certain "relationship" which must be addressed to fully understand the conflict within the theatre.

The paper relates the force behind the creation of the theatre to a definable European literary movement-- the Gaelic Revival, which in Ireland, aimed at furthering cultural identity. The plays of the Irish National Theatre made an important addition to this objective. However, the money funding the "Golden Dawn," the creation of the Abbey and the national theatre, came from a wealthy English widow, Mrs. Annie Horniman, who opposed the dreary subjects of Irish Nationalism. "If she had a dramatic wish of her own ... it was ... to create at the Abbey a new kind of dramatic song, a new style ... and noble, costumed, heraldic figures ... she did not care about hole and corner Irish ideas.'" (Fitzgerald 114-115) In a letter to Synge, Horniman wrote: "If anyone thinks that Irish' or National' are anything to me beyond mere empty words to distinguidh a Society ... they are much mistaken." (Fitzgerald 115) Her thinking conflicted with the nationalist efforts of Yeats, as well as the other members involved in the theatre.

As mentioned in "The Inception of the Abbey Theater," the interior was excessively ornate, with an "exclusive enterance" and walls "adorned by portraits and stained-glass windows." Of course the lower classes stared wonderously, the theatre and its prices were specifically designed to cater to a wealty audience. After a review of The King's Threshold, criticizing the costumes "of a richness almost barbaric," Yeats entreated Horniman to cease embellishing the costumes with jewels. (Fitzgerald 114-115) The conflict between her stage aesthetic versus Yeats created tension. Yeats believed the artist should "write for the ear." In An Introduction For My Plays ," Yeats rejects stage conventions which distract the audience's focus on words. "The stage must become still that words might keep their vividness." (Harrington 406) Yeats followed in the style of The Well of Saints in which the entire staging consisted of a dialogue between two characters on a bench. The disparity between Yeat's vision of an unornamented stage directly conflicted with Mrs. Horniman's image of a higher theatre.

Still, "Horniman meant the theatre to belong to Yeats." In an "letter to Yeats making the formal offer of the theatre," Horniman sympathized with "the artistic and dramatic aims of the Irish National Theatre as publicly explained by you [Yeats] on various occasions," but "Horniman's statement contained a number of ambiguous points and, as time passed and policies became more precisely defined, inevitable conflicts began to arise." (Fitzgerald 114-115) In truth, Horniman sympathized with the policies she believed Yeats supported, but had no idea of, or at least ignored, the expression of the strength of his nationalist feelings in his plays. True, Horniman acted the part of a dictator over the entire Society, "arrogant, narrow-minded, and dangerously domineering ... the members opposed every suggestion she made-- all the members save one, W. B. Yeats." (Fitzgerald 48) Yeats cautiously used his relationship with Horniman to obtain a certain degree of control over the theatre in spite of Horniman's objections.

"Horniman was certainly drawn to Yeats by ... more than ... his poetic drama; she was, in fact, in love with him. She kept a lighted portrait of the poet in her rooms ... she made him a present of the Abbey Theatre, which is an expensive sort of gift ... she was watchful for rivals, and jealous of Maud ... All this evidence bespeaks, on her side, love ...Yeats, on his side, kept company with her, sometimes answered letters, and in general permitted her to devote herself to him." (Fitzgerald 160)

"A poet like Yeats comported himslef ... like a man in love," not only with Horniman but all women; even so, she could have mistaken his interest and believed her attentions welcome. (Fitgerald 160) Yeats did not love Annie Horniman, he was "dependent upon her ... Yeats did not answer her letters as often as she liked ... he did not visit her until told he must ... He did not, in short, do much to sustain his relationship ... but he did just enough." (Fitzgerald 162) In 1906, Horniman mentioned abandoning the Abbey, but privately reassured Yeats he could always depend on her financial support. Yeats only allowed her to feed her own passions, and she continued since he did not openly disagree with her policies. For Yeats, her "aversion to the sexual motive" prevented his worrying over any sexual relationship with her. (Fitzgerald 164) "After the purchase of the Abbey, Horniman told Yeats she never imgined for a moment' that he was practically exploiting' her' ... It would have been cheaper ... to hire a theatre ... for a week if the only purpose ... was to build up his reputation as a dramatist." (Fitzgerald 1654) Yeats ability to maintain Horniman's interest prevented her prohibiting the nationalism regularly represented in the Society's plays displayed on her stage. Horniman's pleasure at being involved in the dramatic art pleased her so much that she looked past this problem for years until she finally did decided "to transform the Irish National Theatre Society." "She was no doubt disappointed ... that the Irishness of the affair would not somehow go away ... that her efforts to play a creative role in the company had failed; that Yeats did not love her." (Fitzgerald 175-176)

Ultimately, Yeats and his nationalism won, much to Annie Horniman's disdain but primarily due to her love for him:

"Horniman made no secret of her feelings to Yeats. She told him his country men were disloyal, slovenly and vulgar. They wanted to destroy everything good and refined ... In time, Horniman realised that her gibes at Irish manners ... her intense distaste for any manifestation of national feeling ... were repellent to Yeats.' Indeed, they ... caused him to put on his crushed, pained, and distressed look of misery.' She brought herself to accept national feeling as a part of [Yeat's] nature,' but ... she complained, Yeats returned to refuse the favor and accept ... an equally ardent comtempt of the Irish." (Fitzgerald 180)

The true nature of the Abbey and its productions cannot be discussed without examining the undercurrents caused by the relationship between Yeats and Annie Horniman. While the majority of the information in "The Inception of the Abbey Theater" is accurate, this important detail was unfortunately omitted. The result of this omission implies that Horniman prevented any display of Irish Nationalism on the Abbey stage. However, considering the sway Yeats held with her affections and the content of the actual plays performed in the Abbey, the Irish National Theatre Society succeeded in objectives regardless of Mrs. Horniman's overbearing influence.Works Cited

Frazier, Adrian. Behind the scenes: Yeats, Horniman, and the Struggle for the Abbey Theatre. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990.

Yeats, W. B. "An Introduction for my Plays." Modern Irish Drama, ed. Harrington, John P., 406-408. London: W. W. Norton and Co., 1991.