Vol. 2 No. 1 - Modernist Magazines Project

MICHAEL FARRELL 80
compartments. Later they come and go, and talk to her,
for life will go on in Farrandore ; she bought a bright
blouse in Clery's just after the trial ; the tipsy man who
has seen his friend off on a huge journey wanders after
his own aching beauty of friendship, up and down, up
and down this train whose wheels beat out the same
rhythm as the speech of the people, same as the rhythm
to which they, the train and the audience are going—
to the surge and thunder of the world's seas in
Farrandore, But one can no more tell the play than one
can tell of Chekov, Asmodee, Riders to the Sea, Bernard's
4 silent' plays. Lest all this should alarm some people,
let it be said that the outer beauties of a theatre's night
reign here as well as these greater beauties, and that many
people have paid money twice to see this play without
ever hearing the world's seas surging through Farrandore.
One setting—a train compartment with corridor beyond,
and lonely stations, flickeringly-lit, pass by. Six men,
five women.
THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE by W. B. YEATS
One-act verse play. Included in some editions of
the poems (but not in the Collected Poems, Macmillan, 1933
and 1934). Obtainable separately for 2s. 6d. * The Countess
Cathleen and The Land of Heart's Desire ... in their new
shape, are, I think, easier to play than my later plays,
depending less upon the players and more upon the producer,
both having been imagined more for variety of
stage-picture than variety of mood in the players.'
The mere story will interest any Irish country audience ;
and the poetry is easy to understand. Let all be simple,
unfussy, remote. Try to dress and stage it in some timeless,
unspecified period—plan your own designs and ask advice.
If that is too much, then just wear some graceful clothes
that are long gone out of fashion. If any * stage-effect'
or part of the setting seems to muddle your local stage,