CURTAIN.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

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