| Description | File of records regarding the Abbey Theatre production of Thomas Kilroy's play The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde , first running during the Dublin Theatre Festival 3 - 18 October 1997, (for revivals in Melbourne and London, see below). Directed by Patrick Mason; starring Jane Brennan, Robert O'Mahoney, Andrew Scott. Comprising a rehearsal script (paginated 1-100 with handwritten annotations); correspondence between Kilroy, Judy Friel and Patrick Mason at The Abbey Theatre, the viewing public, and theatre manager Michael Cottrell; printed programmes from the Dublin and London shows; press reviews. Among private letters appreciating the play are items from Gay Byrne (RTE), Jim Barnett (Missouri), James [Mays] (Wicklow), Caroline Walsh ( Irish Times ), Nicholas Grene (TCD), Riona Dwyer (UCG), Bob Quinn (Béal an Daingin), Michael Garvey (Dublin). Also containing contemporary text entitled "The case of Warder Martin: some cruelties of prison life" (1897) sent by The Abbey Theatre; detailed criticism from Chris [ ], Abbey Theatre (5 December 1995); a letter from Merlin [Holland] (17 September 1997). One commentator offers that "the ceremony of redemption that you imagined had its eyes firmly set on the beautiful mess of the real world..." (unsigned, Rome, 20 October 1997). |