The Playboy of the Western World

Tickets and Information

Keegan Theatre presents The Playboy of the Western World, by John Millington Synge.

J.M. Synge's candid yet poetic writing, which echoed the lives of peasants and fishing families he had come to know on the western coast of Ireland and the Aran Islands, struck a nerve with Irish audiences when it premiered at Dublin's Abbey Theater in 1907, causing a firestorm of controversy among Irish patriots. Today, Playboy is considered one of Synge's greatest accomplishments, a masterwork of Irish lyrical language and a tale told with sweetness and humor. Indeed, this play is widely recognized as changing the face of Irish theater forever.

The play follows the progress of its young hero as he changes, in the eyes and perceptions of others, from timid weakling to paragon of bravery. The Keegan Theatre production is directed by producing artistic director, Mark A. Rhea.