I wrote The Dragon in 1917, that now seems so many long years away, and I have been trying to remember how I came to write it. I think perhaps through some unseen inevitable kick of the swing towards gay-coloured comedy from the shadow of tragedy. It was begun seriously enough, for I see among my scraps of manuscripts that the earliest outline of it is entitled “The Awakening of a Soul,” the soul of the little Princess who had not gone “far out in the world.” And that idea was never quite lost, for even when it had all turned to comedy I see as an alternative name “A Change of Heart.” For even the Dragon’s heart is changed by force, as happens in the old folk tales and the heart of some innocent creature put in its place by the conqueror’s hand; all change more or less except the Queen. She is yet satisfied that she has moved all things well, and so she must remain till some new breaking up or re-birth.

As to the framework, that was once to have been the often-told story of a King’s daughter given to whatever man can “knock three laughs out of her.” As well as I remember the first was to have been when the eggs were broken, and another when she laughed with the joy of happy love. But the third was the stumbling-block. It was necessary the ears of the Abbey audience should be tickled at the same time as those of the Princess, and old-time jests like those of Sir Dinadin of the Round Table seem but dull to ears of to-day. So I called to my help the Dragon that has given his opportunity to so many a hero from Perseus in the Greek Stories to Shawneen in those of Kiltartan. And he did not sulk or fail me, for after one of the first performances the producer wrote: “I wish you had seen the play last night when a big Northern in the front of the stalls was overcome with helpless laughter, first by Sibby and then by the Dragon. He sat there long after the curtain fell, unable to move and wiping the tears from his eyes; the audiences stopped going out and stood and laughed at him.” And even a Dragon may think it a feather in his cap to have made Ulster laugh.

A.G.

Coole, February, 1920.

ORIGINAL CAST

“The Dragon " was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 21st April, 1919, with the following cast:

The King BARRY FITZGERALD

The Queen MARY SHERIDAN

The Princess Nuala EITHNE MAGEE

The Dall Glic (The Blind Wise Man) PETER NOLAN

The Nurse MAUREEN DELANY

The Prince of the Marshes J. HUGH NAGLE

Manus-King of Sorcha ARTHUR SHIELDS

Fintan-The Astrologer F.J. MACCORMICK

Taig FLORENCE MARKS

The Dragon SEAGHAN BARLOW

The Porter STEPHEN CASEY

The Gatekeeper HUBERT M’GUIRE

Two Aunts of the Prince of the Marshes {ESME WARD
{DYMPHNA DALY