The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, first premiered The Plough and the Stars back in 1926. They’ve been producing it fairly regularly since then, and some of the props have been along for the ride. “Ploughing history into every production” by Sara Keating in the Irish Times is a great article about the pedigree of some of these props.
The ghosts of long-dead actors sit in chairs that are still recycled between productions, while the shadow of other plays hover above an original Victorian pram that has been used at the Abbey since its very first years. Such objects accrue stories in the same way that cities or buildings or people do. They are a palimpsest of many different lives and different uses.
They carry legends that are usually lost as actors and artists pass on: nobody thinks to write them down.
In the article, Ms. Keating interviews archivist Mairéad Delaney, prop master Stephen Molloy and prop maker Eimear Murphy. They explore the histories of some of these objects, such as Uncle Peter’s Sword, the Tricolor, Mollser’s Coffin, Bessie Burgess’ Shawl, and Mrs. Gogan’s Pram. The aforementioned pram had indeed been used in every production since 1926, and is over a hundred years old by this point.
The Abbey also possesses the original prompt script for the play, filled with notes and scribblings of everyone including Seán O’Casey, the author. All of these objects are remarkable in their own right, but even more so because they survived the Abbey Theatre burning down in 1951 and being completely rebuilt.
- On Making Things
- One of the first objects I can recall making out of wood was a letter “E” that you......
- The End of Making Props
- Are we entering a world where props are merely bought and not made?......
- The Future of Making Props
- The first part of an ongoing series looks at the possibilities of desktop fabricators.......
- The First Links of Winter
- Five links to get you through the long cold nights.......
