The Abbey Experimental Theatre Company was a small company run by a group of young actors associated with the Peacock Theatre in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland.
History
The Abbey Experimental Theatre Company opened on 5 April 1937, founded by actress Ria Mooney. Mooney's founding statement for the Experimental Theatre was: "for the production of plays by Irish authors whose work was considered not suitable or not sufficiently advanced technically for production on the Abbey stage, and yet was of sufficiently high standard to merit public presentation." The inaugural play was Mervyn Wall's Alarm Among the Clerks.
The Experimental Theatre was considered to be non-commercial, and had a limited audience. By virtue of its experimental nature, it staged plays that would have not been produced in Ireland otherwise. Following the fire in the Abbey in 1951, no provision was made for the Experimental Theatre in the plans or funding for the new Abbey building.
Alarm Among the Clerks
Alarm Among the Clerks was a play written by Mervyn Wall and directed by Cecil F. Ford. It was first performed on Monday, 5 April 1937, and performed as part of a double bill with The Phoenix. "The action is laid in a room in Slattery's bank and a local public house. The first act, in the bank, portrays office life quite well...the came the experiment. In the green light the audience was transported back to the office...the ending was rather everly contrived."
Synopsis
A play about the deadly tedium of day-to-day life for employees in a bank. The clerks complain to each other about 'the system' meaning both capitalism and their own particular bank's ethos. They retire to the local pub for a drink and inebriation conjures up a dream version of banking life to be played out after the realism of the opening.
Cast
Cecil Barror - Mr Plus
Victor Boyd - Publican
Brian Carey - Mr Finn
Frank Carney - Mr Selskar
Malachi Keegan - Mr Mullin
Dermot Kelly - Street Singer
Michael Kinsella - Harkin
John McDarby - Mr Doody
Austin Meldon - Mr Ireton
Geroid Ó'hÍceadha - Mr Fox
Anne Potter - Miss Noone
Shela Ward - Miss Boyd
Crew
Cecil F. Ford - Director
Malachi Keegan - Stage Manager
Geroid Ó'hÍceadha - Set Construction and Set Designer
Anne Yeats - Costume Designer and Scenic Painting
The Phoenix
The Phoenix is a play written by Nino Bartholomew, it was first performed in the Peacock, directed by Frank Carney, on Monday, 5 April 1937 as a double bill with Alarm Among the Clerks. The production ran for 6 nights. "There was little good about it except Mr Cecil Barror's portrayal of Oliver Goldsmith... There was too much rough and tumble (the stage is too small for it) and the combination of comedy and tragedy in the young student's life is not too good."
Cast
Cecil Barror - Oliver Goldsmith
Brian Carey - Dr. Theaker Wilder
Áine Cox - Catty Kiernan
Cecil F. Ford - Edward Mills
Dermot Kelly - O'Reilly
Austin Meldon - Jack Beatty
Mary O'Neill - Peggy O'Shaughnessy
Crew
Malachi Keegan - Stage Manager
Dermot Kelly - Assistant Stage Manager
Geroid Ó'hÍceadha - Carpenter Set Designer
Anne Yeats - Costume Designer and Scenic Artist
Harlequin's Positions
Harlequin's Positions is a play written by Jack B. Yeats, and first performed Monday, 5 June 1939. The production ran for 6 nights. It was co-directed by members of the acting company, Ria Mooney and Cecil F. Ford. The script of Harlequin's Positions was long presumed lost. The Irish Times reported in 1966 that an Oxford academic had finally located the missing typescript with the help of the artist's niece, Anne Yeats. A handwritten script is currently held as part of the Jack B. Yeats Collection in the archives of NUI Galway.
Synopsis
Rumours of war force a wealthy heiress to cut short her cruise and introduce tension and disquiet to a small Sligo town, it is set in the fictional town of Portnadroleen, County Sligo.