1920s London-Irish Theatre

Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschel is Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, USA.

“In The 1920s London-Irish Theatre, Nelson Ritschel reproduces a decade in which Irish drama, Irish actors, and Irish producers came to the forefront of British theatre. But in addition to cataloguing the staging of Irish plays major and minor, Ritschel evokes the politically complicated and violent context within which they were received. The product is an invaluable contribution to the serious study of Irish dramatic literature and British theatre history." --Stephen Watt, author of Joyce, O’Casey, and the Irish Popular Theatre and From the "Troubles" to Trumpism: Ireland and America, 1960–2023 On Nelson O'Ceallaigh Ritschel's "excellent contribution to the Routledge Studies in Irish Literature Series . . . we are indebted here to a scholarly due diligence that demonstrates the extent to which Irish drama--in spite of the upheaval in Anglo-Irish relations throughout that decade--was an unlikely but important presence in the London theatre scene of the 1920s."--Ben Barnes, The Irish Times, January 9, 2026“Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschel’s latest book is an exceptionally researched and thoroughly engaging history of London-Irish theatre during the 1920s… This book is yet another invaluable, original, and ground-breaking contribution by O’Ceallaigh Ritschel to Irish theatre historiography.”--Eamonn Jordan, University College Dublin, Irish Studies Review

• Introduction 1. 1920: The Beginning 2. 1921: Fagan, Irish Players, Shaw, Synge, O’Malley, Everyman 3. 1922, 1923, 1924: Ervine, Everyman, Macdona, Saint Joan 4. 1925, 1926: Fagan, O’Casey, Allgood, Macdona, Kitty Warren 5. 1927, 1928, 1929: Irish Players, Fraser, Apple, Tassie Epilogue