Life
1929- ; Co. Wicklow; worked as electrician; successful plays at Dublin
Theatre Festival, Gate and Eblana; scripted The Riordans; Eileen
O’Casey sued What is the Stars?; also scripted 4-part series
on Oscar Wilde (RTÉ, May 1995). DIW DIL OCIL
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Works
Plays, North City Traffic, Straight
Ahead, dir. Alan Simpson (1961); Carrie (1963); The Ice
Goddess (Fest., Gate 1964); The Savages (Eblana, 1970); Time
Out of School, one act prize; What Is the Stars, with Robert
Hogan (Irish Life Award), which caused Eileen O’Casey to threaten
a law suit; for TV, long-running series, The Riordans; also, The
Bomb, A Play for TV’ [printed in Dublin Magazine (autumn/winter
1965), pp.45-58]; The Hollow Field, How Long is Kissing Time?,
and Babbi Joe (off Broadway); The Savages (Proscenium 1979).
TV, All the Eels in the Ranny are Dead, James Douglas/dir. Shelah Richards (1968); Babby Joe, James Douglas/Chloe Gibson (1966); Cruel Fondness, A, James Douglas/Chloe Gibson (1969); Guests of the Nation, 113, 114, Frank O’Connor, adpt. James Douglas/Brian MacLochlainn (1969); Hollow Field, James Douglas/Christopher Fitzsimon (1965); How Long is Kissing Time, James Douglas/Chloe Gibson (1968); Partners in Practice, Carolyn Swift, James Douglas, Michael Judge/Laurence Bourne (1971); Too Short a Summer, James Douglas/Chloe Gibson (1973); What Happens When it Snows?, James Douglas/Choe Gibson (1972); et al., Tolka Row.
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References
Robert Hogan, ed., A Dictionary of Irish Literature (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1979), and Do. [rev. edn.], 2 vols. (Greenwood Press 1996): ‘Tersely distinctive style, about defeat, disillusionment, weltschmerz.
Short stories glumly contemporary’. (q.p.)
Helena Sheehan, Irish Television Drama, A Society and Its Stories (RTE 1987).
D. E. S. Maxwell, Modern Irish Drama (Cambridge UP 1984) lists North City Traffic Straight Ahead (Proscenium 1968). Note, The Ice Goddess is anthologised in Robert Hogan, ed., Seven Irish Plays (Minn. 1967).
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