Drama:
Spreading the News, pr. 1904
The Rising of the Moon, pb. 1905
Kincora, pr., pb. 1905, revised pr. 1909
The White Cockade, pr. 1905
Hyacinth Halvey, pr., pb. 1906
The Canavans, pr. 1906, revised pb. 1912
The Gaol Gate, pr. 1906
Dervorgilla, pr. 1907
The Jackdaw, pr. 1907
The Workhouse Ward, pr. 1908 (with Douglas Hyde; revision of The Poorhouse, pb. 1903)
Seven Short Plays, pb. 1909
The Travelling Man, pb. 1909
The Image, pr. 1909
The Full Moon, pr. 1910
Coats, pr. 1910
The Deliverer, pr. 1911
Grania, pb. 1912
Damer’s Gold, pr. 1912
The Bogie Men, pr. 1912
Irish Folk-History Plays, pb. 1912
New Comedies, pb. 1913
The Wrens, pr. 1914
Shanwalla, pr. 1915
The Golden Apple, pb. 1916
Hanrahan’s Oath, pr. 1918
The Jester, wr. 1918, pb. 1923
The Dragon, pr. 1919
Aristotle’s Bellows, pr. 1921
The Story Brought by Brigit, pr., pb. 1924
Sancho’s Master, pr. 1927
Dave, pr. 1927
Selected Plays, pb. 1962 (Elizabeth Coxhead, editor)
The Collected Plays of Lady Gregory, pb. 1970 (4 volumes; Ann Saddlemyer, editor)
Nonfiction:
Our Irish Theatre, 1913
Hugh Lane’s Life and Achievement, 1921
A Case for the Return of Hugh Lane’s Pictures to Dublin, 1926
Coole, 1931
Lady Gregory’s Journals, 1916-1930, 1946 (Lennox Robinson, editor)
Lady Gregory’s Diaries, 1892-1902, 1995 (James Pethica, editor)
Edited Texts:
An Autobiography of Sir William Gregory, 1894
Mr. Gregory’s Letter Box, 1898
Ideals in Ireland, 1901
Cuchulain of Muirthemne, 1902
Poets and Dreamers, 1903
Gods and Fighting Men, 1904
A Book of Saints and Wonders, 1907
The Kiltartan History Book, 1909
The Kiltartan Wonder Book, 1910
The Kiltartan Poetry Book, 1919
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, 1920 (2 volumes)
Lady Augusta Gregory was born Isabella Augusta Persse, the daughter of a wealthy Anglo-Irish landowner. She was educated privately and in 1880 married Sir William Henry Gregory, the well-known Orientalist, governor of Ceylon, and Irish M.P., who died in 1892. They had one son, Robert, a painter.
Lady Augusta Gregory
The turning point in Lady Gregory’s life came about through an 1892 meeting with William Butler Yeats, who collaborated with her on several Irish folk plays. With Yeats, Edward Martyn, and George Moore, she began the Irish literary revival that resulted in the founding of the Irish National Theatre Society and later the Abbey Theatre in 1904. To this world-renowned troupe she devoted her interest, playwriting ability, enthusiasm, and financial support. Though she is overshadowed as an author by Yeats and John Millington Synge, her Spreading the News, The Rising of the Moon, and Hyacinth Halvey are excellent one-act Irish peasant plays, and many of her works are masterpieces of suspense, folk humor, and incisiveness. She translated plays by Molière, Carlo Goldoni, and Hermann Sudermann into Irish country speech. Yet she gained her fame principally as playwright, producer, director, and the “godmother” of the Abbey Theatre, a group that would never have been able to perform without her steady guiding hand and masterful diplomacy at home and on English and American tours.
Her later years were saddened by the death of her son in World War I. The Abbey Theatre burned after her death in 1932 but was rebuilt in 1966. Lady Gregory’s influence continues to be felt in the theater. Through her plays and her support of playwrights such as Synge, Yeats, and Sean O’Casey, she left a legacy of Irish pride in their heritage.