Author: John Millington Synge
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2014-09-20
Total Pages: 48
ISBN-13: 9781502444547
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The Well of the Saints - A Comedy in Three Acts by John. M. Synge. The Well of the Saints is a three-act play written by Irish playwright J. M. Synge, first performed at the Abbey Theatre by the Irish National Theatre Society in February 1905. It is set in the rural east of Ireland two or more centuries ago. Martin and Mary Doul are two blind beggars who have been led by the lies of the townsfolk to believe that they are beautiful when in fact they are old and ugly. A saint cures them of their blindness with water from a holy well and at first sight they are disgusted by each other. Martin goes to work for Timmy the smith and tries to seduce Timmy's betrothed, Molly, but she viciously rejects him and Timmy sends him away. Martin and Mary both lose their sight again, and when the saint returns to wed Timmy and Molly Martin refuses his offer to cure their blindness again. The saint takes offence and the townsfolk banish the couple, who head south in search of kinder neighbours. Edmund John Millington Synge (16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, travel writer and collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival and was one of the co-founders of the Abbey Theatre. He is best known for his play The Playboy of the Western World, which caused riots in Dublin during its opening run at the Abbey Theatre. Although he came from an Anglo-Irish background, Synge's writings are mainly concerned with the world of the Roman Catholic peasants of rural Ireland and with what he saw as the essential paganism of their world view. Synge suffered from Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer that was untreatable at the time. He died weeks short of his 38th birthday as he was trying to complete his last play, Deirdre of the Sorrows.
