407. THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975

Roberta Maxwell, Christopher Walken.

THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS [Dramatic Revival] A: Sean O’Casey; D: Dan Sullivan; S: Douglas W. Schmidt; C: Carrie F. Robbins; L: John Gleason; M: John Duffy; P: Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center; T: Vivian Beaumont Theatre; 1/4/73-2/10/73 (44)

Nancy Marchand, Leo Leyden, Jack MacGowran.

Ireland’s Easter Uprising of 1916 forms the background to this major O’Casey work in which the vivid characters who live out their pitiful lives in the shadow of the gunmen evoke “the sorrow and pity of humanity’s folly,” as Harold Clurman observed.

Jack MacGowran, Kevin Conway, Leo Leyden, Sydney Walker, Lee Lawson.

The Plough and the Stars remained a potent poetic piece of tragicomic playwriting in this so-so revival, but several critics were reluctant to place it on a playwriting pedestal. “[I]t is not the granite stuff of great playwriting,” declared Clive Barnes, who stated that despite the play’s considerable activity, “nothing really happens.”

Pauline Flanagan, Jack MacGowran, Christopher Walken.

Dan Sullivan’s mounting, combining the Lincoln Center company with several outsiders, pleased Brendan Gill with its “robust” energy, and Barnes thought it “stylishly produced and very decently done.” However, more critics believed the revival deficient in the dramatist’s poetic quality, and ineffectively acted. John Simon, who considered this O’Casey’s finest drama, saw only “flimsy stuff” onstage; he also reprimanded the actors for their phony brogues. 

Christopher Walken’s Jack Clitheroe and Roberta Maxwell’s Nora were especially hard hit by Simon’s remarks, although they fared a bit better in other eyes. But the consensus was implied in Walter Kerr’s comment on the cast: “They are so many puppies shaking lifeless rag dolls.”

Other important members of the cast included the renowned Irish actor Jack MacGowran as Fluther Good, Kevin Conway as Young Covey, Pauline Flanagan as Bessie Burgess, Philip Bosco as Cpl.Stoddart, Sydney Walker as Bartender, and Nancy Marchand as Mrs.Gogan.

Barnes, summing up, wrote: “I liked the convincing presence of Kevin Conway as Covey, and Pauline Flanagan and Nancy Marchand both excelled as the two older women. But best of all was Jack MacGowran (Ireland's own pride and joy) as Fluther. Mr. MacGowran prances with a graveyard reverence, and clowns with sadness. His acting is a constant joy. But the play itself proves a more fitful experience.”