Sean O'Casey (Modern Dramatists)

Sean O’Casey (b. 1880-d. 1964) is one of Ireland’s best-known playwrights, and any visitor to Dublin is likely to encounter O’Casey’s name attached to an assortment of tourist souvenirs, civic buildings, and cultural events. He is less celebrated than his contemporaries James Joyce and W. B. Yeats, and yet - unlike those two figures who wrote drama but never developed a secure place in the theatrical canon - O’Casey’s plays have achieved sustained success in performance. At Ireland’s national theater, O’Casey’s works have been performed more than those of any other writer, and here (as in many other countries) he has been appreciated for using music-hall-style comedy, dealing with contentious historical events, and displaying a consistent sympathy with the downtrodden and poor - whose predicament O’Casey knew from his own childhood.