The Colleen Bawn

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The Colleen Bawn (also sometimes referred to as The Brides of Garryowen) is a melodramatic play written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Miss Laura Keene's Theatre, New York, on 27 March 1860^[1] with Laura Keene playing Anne Chute and Boucicault playing Myles-na-Coppaleen. It was most recently performed in New York by the Irish Repertory Theatre in October and November 2003^[2].

Contents 1 Plot 2 Origins 3 Opera 4 References

[edit] Plot

Hardress Cregan and his mother have fallen on hard times. His mother tries to persuade Hardress to marry the wealthy Anne Chute. He agrees, although he is already secretly married to Eily O'Connor, a beautiful fair-haired girl (in Irish cailín bán or colleen bawn) who has many admirers including the roguish Myles-na-Coppaleen. Anne, seeing Hardress with Eily one night, mistakes him for her lover, Kyrle Daly, and, angry at Kyrle, she agrees to marry Hardress. Hardress's servant, the hunchback Danny Mann, offers to murder Eily so that Hardress will be free to marry Anne. Thinking that Hardress has agreed, he takes Eily to the lake where he attempts to drown her, but he is discovered and shot by Myles-na-Coppaleen. At the wedding of Hardress and Anne the police come to arrest Hardress for the murder of Eily, but before he is taken away Eily appears. Hardress is released, Eily is accepted by Mrs. Cregan, Anne and Kyrle are reconciled and Anne offers to pay off the Cregans' debt.

[edit] Origins

The play was based on Gerald Griffin's novel, The Collegians. In the novel, Eily O'Connor actually was murdered by Danny Mann, who was hanged while Hardress Cregan was exiled. The novel was based on the true-life story of Ellen Scanlan (née Hanly), a fifteen-year-old girl who was murdered on 14 July 1819. She was recently married to John Scanlan, but when he saw that she would not be accepted into his family he persuaded his servant, Stephen Sullivan, to kill her. Sullivan took her out on the River Shannon near Kilrush, County Clare where he killed her and dumped her body, tied to a stone. Her body was washed ashore six weeks later. Scanlan was arrested for murder. At his trial he was defended by the famous barrister Daniel O'Connell. He was found guilty and hanged. Sullivan fled but was later apprehended, confessed and was also hanged.

[edit] Opera

Sir Julius Benedict composed his opera The Lily of Killarney from a text provided by Boucicault and John Oxenford based on The Colleen Bawn. It opened at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 8 February 1862 and remained a highly regarded and popular opera throughout the Victorian era. In Kobbe's Opera Book, first published in 1922, it still merited a full summary of the plot, which remains in the current edition.^[3]

[edit] References