The directors of the Irish National Theatre, Lady Gregory and Mr.
William Butler Yeats, rose to the occasion with inspiriting
courage. I am a conciliatory person, and was willing, as I always
am, to make every concession in return for having my own way. But
Lady Gregory and Mr. Yeats not only would not yield an inch, but
insisted, within the due limits of gallant warfare, on taking the
field with every circumstance of defiance, and winning the battle
with every trophy of victory. Their triumph was as complete as
they could have desired. The performance exhausted the
possibilities of success, and provoked no murmur, though it
inspired several approving sermons. Later on, Lady Gregory and
Mr. Yeats brought the play to London and performed it under the
Lord Chamberlain's nose, through the instrumentality of the Stage
Society.
After this, the play was again submitted to the Lord Chamberlain.
But, though beaten, he, too, understands the art of How Not To Do
It. He licensed the play, but endorsed on his licence the
condition that all the passages which implicated God in the
history of Blanco Posnet must be omitted in representation. All
the coarseness, the profligacy, the prostitution, the violence,
the drinking-bar humor into which the light shines in the play
are licensed, but the light itself is extinguished. I need hardly
say that I have not availed myself of this licence, and do not
intend to. There is enough licensed darkness in our theatres
today without my adding to it.
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