Apparently, some audience members in 1907 were offended by this, and there was a fair amount of controversy. Attractive young ladies and a wily widow come after him with romance in mind. (SPOILER ALERT) Strangely enough, the locals respond to him with awe and protect him. In this case it is Christy Mahon, a young and seemingly foolish fellow who is fleeing his home after killing his father. In this, the playwright returns to the theme of a tramp turning up in a remote area and getting mixed up with the locals. The real masterpiece here is "The Playboy of the Western World", and this play deserves a 5 star rating. The sea seems to stand in for the inescapable fate that awaits us all. The second piece is considerably darker, and focuses on a rural family whose sons keep drowning in various mishaps. The first one is pretty funny, and concerns a tramp who turns up at a rural home as the man of the house is about to be buried - only it turns out he has not died yet, but is only faking it. "In the Shadow of the Glen" and "Riders to the Sea" are one act plays. Synge was an educated man from a bourgeois home, but he traveled around rural Ireland and fell in love with the colorful language and characters he encountered. He did not live long and he wrote too little, but he left behind these works. Oh wonderful wordplay! Read these lively passages and understand why Synge's work is still in print and why he continues to be regarded as a great Irish playwright.
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