Plough and the Stars

Sean O'Casey was born in Dublin in 1880. He was the youngest of seven surviving children and, because of malnutrition, ill health and poverty, he had little formal education. Although the first half of his life was spent as a labourer, he involved himself with the Irish political struggle for both independence and betterment of conditions for the poor. He was secretary of the Irish Citizen Army, and wrote for the Irish Worker. The production at the Abbey Theatre of his early plays translated his experiences into art and brought him international acclaim. Like many another great Irish writer, he paid his country the compliment of leaving it as soon as he conveniently could. Having lived in London and Chalfant St Giles, in 1938 he moved with his young family to Devon, where he died in 1964.