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DENIS JOHNSTON (1901 - 1984) |
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Nationality: Irish Email: Click here to contact Website: n/a |
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Literary Agent: n/a |
Invaluable help with this entry was received from Rory Johnston.
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."
Plays by Denis Johnston
Blind Man's Buff | ||
| 1st Produced: | 28 Dec 1936 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Jonathan Cape, London, 1938 | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #46151 | |||
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: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | written by Ernst Toller and Denis Johnston. based on Toller's Die blinde Gottin (The Blind Goddess) | |||||
Synopsis: | Play about a murder trial | |||||
Further Reference: | Wearing 53.259 | |||||
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Bride For The Unicorn, A | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1933 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Jonathan Cape, London, 1935 | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #49779 | |||
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: | Play with Music | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Revised version published 1979, Colin Smythe (including substantial number of printer's errors) | |||||
Synopsis: |
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Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Dreaming Dust, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1940 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Jonathan Cape, London, 1954 | ISBN/ASIN: | 0-86140-123-9 | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #18280 | |||
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 | ||
Parts other: | extras | |||||
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 | |||||
| Play about Jonathan Swift | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Finnegans Wake | ||
| 1st Produced: | Yale Drama Festival, New Haven Connecticut | 1957 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #18281 | |||
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: | Adaptation | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 4 | Female | 9 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | script available from rory7@sbcglobal.net | |||||
Synopsis: | Stage adaptation of excerpts from Joyce's book, based on Mary Manning's The Voice of Shem | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Fourth For Bridge, A | ||
| 1st Produced: | BBC Television with the title The Unthinking Lobster | 1948 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Jonathan Cape, London, 1954 | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #18282 | |||
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 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | One-act play on World War II | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Golden Cuckoo, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1939 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Jonathan Cape, London, 1954 | ISBN/ASIN: | 0-86140-123-9 | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #18283 | |||
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 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Revised version published 1979, Colin Smythe | |||||
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Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Moon In The Yellow River, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1931 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Jonathan Cape, London, 1932 | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #18284 | |||
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 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
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Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Nine Rivers From Jordan | ||
| 1st Produced: | New York City Opera, New York | 1968 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Theodore Presser, Bryn Mawr PA, 1968 | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #18285 | |||
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 | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
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 | |||||
Synopsis: |
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Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Old Lady Says "No!", The | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1929 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Jonathan Cape, London, 1932 | ISBN/ASIN: | 978-0813207517 | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #49778 | |||
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 | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | revised versions published by Cape, and by Colin Smythe, 1977 | |||||
| Expressionist satire on the myth of Ireland | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Scythe And The Sunset, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | Poets' Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts. | 1958 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "Collected Plays", Cape, London, 1960 | ISBN/ASIN: | 0-86140-123-9 | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #18286 | |||
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: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 9 | Female | 2 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
| n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Six Characters in Search of an Author | ||
| 1st Produced: | Mount Holyoke College MA | 1950 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #46152 | |||
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: | Translation | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Original Playwright - Luigi Pirandello | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Six Characters in Search of an Author | ||
| 1st Produced: | New York City Opera | 1959 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Merion Music, Bryn Mawr PA, 1957 | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #46153 | |||
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 | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | based on Pirandello's play (completely different from his translation of play) Music by Hugo Weisgall | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Storm Song | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1934 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Jonathan Cape, London, 1935 | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #49780 | |||
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: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | about the making of a film in the west of Ireland, based on the story of Robert Flaherty | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Strange Occurrence on Ireland's Eye | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1956 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "Collected Plays Vol.2" Cape, london, 1960 | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #18287 | |||
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: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 19 | Female | 5 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | the title reference is to a newspaper headline | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Tain Bo Cuailgne | ||
| 1st Produced: | Dublin | 1956 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "Dramatic Works 2", Colin Smythe, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, 1979 | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #18288 | |||
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: | Pageant | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | Cast of several dozen principals and hundreds of extras | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Pageant on the story of Cuchulainn, hero of Ulster | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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