Juno and the Paycock

Summary

1938 BBC Television studio production of Sean O’Casey’s drama Juno and the Paycock.

Theatre play

Juno and the Paycock by Seán O’Casey (1880-1964) [more information]

Play synopsis

Set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Irish Civil War period. It is the second of Casey’s well known Dublin Trilogy, the other two being The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) and The Plough and the Stars (1926). A distant relative of the Boyle family dies, ‘and an English solicitor, Mr Bentham, brings news that the family has come into an inheritance. The family buys goods on credit, and borrows money from neighbours with the intent of paying them back when the fortune arrives’. The fortune doesn’t arrive, however, and the goods have to be returned; the son is killed for betraying an IRA comrade; mother Juno and daughter Mary (who has fallen pregnant by Bentham) leave the family home; and father returns drunk, not knowing that the house will be empty on his return.

Production history

First staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924.

Date of transmission

Friday 21 October 1938

Time

3.00pm (90 mins)

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Fred O’Donovan (1889-1952)

Playwright

Seán O’Casey (1880-1964)

Cast

Jack Bland	'Needle’ Nugent
Patrick Boxill	Johnny Boyle
Joyce Chancellor	Mary Boyle
George Dillon	A coal-block vendor
Harry Fine	Jerry Devine
Betty Hardy	Mrs Maisie Madigan
Harry Hutchinson	Captain Jack Boyle
Charles Maunsell	An irregular mobilizer
Alex McCrindle	A sewing-machine man
Rose Murray	A neighbour
Margaret Nicholls	Mrs Tancred
Eric Noels	A policeman
Maire O’Neill	Juno Boyle
Tony Quinn	'Joxer’ Daly
Laurence Shiel	Charlie Bentham

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 9.10pm on Tuesday 25 October 1938.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

IRA (Irish Republican Army); Irish drama; Republic of Ireland, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Broadcasting: Bizet Concert (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Anonymous (Reviewer)

Reference

The Times, 24 October 1938, p. 8

Notes

'Mr Sean O’Casey’s tragedy was beautifully presented on the television screen for the first time last week by Mr Fred O’Donovan. Skilful use of the mobility of the cameras allowed shots to be taken of the adjoining room and of the street door, and of the funeral procession passing by. The future of television seems to lie in extending the stage in this way, and emancipating the production from stage conventions.'

Title

From the Palace to the Grove (Book)

Author/creator

Michael Barry (Author)

Reference

London: Royal Television Society, 1992

Linking notes

p. 30 with comments on O’Donovan’s technique

Title

Radio Times, 14 October 1938 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 18