The Plough and the Stars is a four-act play by the Irish writer Seán O'Casey that was first performed on 8 February 1926 at the Abbey Theatre.
Residents of the tenement house: Additional characters: The first act is a representation of normal working-class life in early twentieth century Dublin.
Nora begs him not to answer the door, but he does, and meets Captain Brennan, a chicken butcher and a member of the Irish Citizen Army.
Jack Clitheroe, Lieutenant Langon and Captain Brennan enter the bar, in uniform and carrying The Plough and the Stars flag and a green, white and orange tricolour.
As Mrs Gogan leads her inside to lie down Bessie leaves to get some bread and comes back shortly informing the others that looting has broken out everywhere.
Angered by her actions and the shame they brought upon him Jack ignores Nora's pleas and pushes her away roughly before leaving with his comrades.
After a board of directors' meeting O'Casey agreed to modify some of the terms used as well as to cut out Rosie Redmond's song in act II that was deemed as being especially offensive.
[3] The play was first performed in front of a sold out crowd at Abbey Theatre due to the fact that a large portion of the seats had been reserved for government officials.
[2] The first sign of displeasure among the audience occurred during the second act of the second performance of the play when Sighle Humphreys, a member of the Cumann na mBan, started to hiss from the back of the pit.
When the curtains rose on 11 February to another full house the presence of Cumann na mBan and Sinn Féin members was hard to ignore.
[citation needed] The riots began during the play's second act when Rosie Redmond, a prostitute, is seen lounging in the pub awaiting clients as the Figure in the Window, using the words of Patrick Pearse, declares that 'Bloodshed is a cleansing and a sanctifying thing, and the nation that regards it as the final horror has lost its manhood'.
[4] In contrasting the character of Rosie with the Figure's speech, O'Casey compares the ideal dream of the patriots with what W. B. Yeats called the normal grossness of life.
[7] In 1936, the play was adapted into a film by American director John Ford, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Preston Foster.
In 2011, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a production directed by Nadia Molinari with Elaine Cassidy as Nora and Padraic Delaney as Jack.