In connection with this matter I have been asked to raise the position of the National Theatre Society, Limited, to which a grant of £1,000 is made under Sub-head B. A considerable number of people are dissatisfied with the theatrical fare which is provided in the Abbey Theatre during certain periods of the year. For instance, during Horse Show Week the standing dish on the menu is "John Bull's Other Island," or some other play of that sort. Then there are Mr. O'Casey's plays. I confess in regard to them I have no criticism to offer. I regard them as a legitimate interpretation of one aspect of Irish life, and I do not wish in anything I may say to be taken as criticising his merits as a dramatist, or as protesting against the themes which he chooses. That is my personal and private opinion. I do know, however, that there is a considerable section of public opinion in the city which does not regard his plays as a fair presentation of Irish life. It would seem that the Abbey Theatre does, on certain occasions, when there is an influx of visitors into the country, particularly from Great Britain and elsewhere, take the opportunity of staging plays of that type which give offence to a certain section of our people. It would be better if the Abbey Theatre, in view of the fact that it receives a subsidy from the community as a whole, would not continuously adopt that policy, and if they would, on these occasions, stage other plays which would give what is, in the minds of most of us, a fairer all-round presentation of life in Ireland.
