Looking back on the premiere viewing experience of Riders to the Sea: Synge uses the

acting style, scenes, and dialogue to embody the suffering of Irish society.

I first heard about “Riders to the Sea” at a theatre festival in a small town in Ireland and

was captivated by the promotional posters for the play, which shocked me with their

depiction of the traditional history and culture of the Irish 1. When I first walked into

Molesworth hall, I was a little disappointed that the theater was very small, with only a few

rows of audience seating and simple stage design and lighting, which made me a little

skeptical about the play that was about to begin 2, but surprisingly the show shocked me once

it began.

At the beginning of the show, I noticed that each of the simple props on the stage

played a role, and since it was a one-act play, which meant that the scenes would not change,

this made me very curious, because if the scenes did not change, how would the show

showcase the other scenes? However, the director seems to have handled this issue perfectly,

For example, when the actors looked out of the window, their movements were full of

tension, and combined with the flickering light effects that simulated thunder, we could easily

see that the actors were anxious about the sea 3, which also made me very involved in the

plot, curious about what the sea had brought to the family in the next scene, causing them to

be so afraid of the sea. Immediately after, the props on the stage also caught my attention.

The broken oven, fishing nets, new boards on the wall, and raincoats are all tools that we

1
John Millington Synge had a tendency to romanticize Irish peasant life: in The Aran Islands, for example,
Synge presented the islanders as naive and charming primitives whose lives, while not Edenic, were largely and
happily unspoiled by contact with the modern world (LEDER 1990, p207).
2
First performed at the Molesworth Hall, Dublin on February 25 1904. The few people in attendance responded
favourably (Kataoka 2003, P1).
3
Cathleen, consequently, looks anxionsly out of the window. We begin to understand that going to the sea in bad
weather and getting drowned is a common event in the ordinary life in Aran (CASARES 1988, P55).
used to use, so we can see that the director is very careful in terms of stage props, and a series

of stage sets will also bring our perspective into the poor Irish family. 4.

In addition to the stage props, the dialogue of the actors also reflects the hardships

suffered by the Irish islanders. The actors' dialogue style can be seen to be based on realism,

focusing on conveying the characters' emotions and struggles rather than grand drama. This is

why the characters' every word and action is particularly important. The scene that stands out

to me is when Cathleend says: "An old woman will be soon tired with anything she will do

(Synge 1997, p. 5)." This line also shows the daughters' failure to understand their mother

Maurya's inner pain and made me realize the complex psychological situation of each family

member not understanding each other, which also shows the current situation of the poor

people on the island of Ireland. At the same time, I remember there was another dialogue in

the play that also attracted me, and that is when the mother Maurya gives up her blessing to

her son. When Maurya says: "He's gone now, and when the black night is falling I'll have no

son left me in the world (Synge 1997, p5). "When we first heard these words, all the audience

in the room were shocked, because according to Irish culture, no one would want to not give

a blessing to their child5. This also makes us understand once again that the mother's

seemingly usual get-in rage has actually abandoned this meaningless blessing in her heart.

The mother's desperate dialogue deepens the rendering of the Irish family's air of despair.

In addition, what surprised me most was the acting style of the actors. When the play

reached its climax, the tension of the actors' performance completely brought the audience

into the emotional world of the family. For example, when Maurya (the mother) suddenly

sees her deceased son coming from the sea on a horse, she lost her voice and cries. The acting

style of the actor at this moment is very real, the actor's tears and the bruises on her head

4
Properties: Cottage kichen with nets, oil skins, spinning-wheel, some new boards standing by the wall
(CASARES 1988, P54).
5
But anyone knowing the Irish custom of blessing a child when he leaves on a journey would hear the silence,
would notice the absence of the blessing (LEDER 1990, P213).
make us feel her inner despair and pain. At this moment, I was facing the pain of losing a

child with her at the same time.

Finally, through the performance of the stage play "Riders to the Sea", I could feel the

suffering in Irish history and culture, as well as the reality of the problems faced by this

small-town family. Through the stage props, the acting style, and the dialogue of the actors, I

was able to truly feel these issues, and it also gave me a deeper understanding of the real

encounters and culture of the remote areas of our Irish society, and I was deeply affected by

this stage play.

Reference

Kataoka, Yumiko. “‘Riders to the Sea’: Irish Voices, British Echoes.” Journal of Irish

Studies, vol. 18, 2003, pp. 65–73. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20533511.

Accessed 7 Mar. 2023.

Leder, Judith Remy. “Synge’s Riders to the Sea: Island as Cultural Battleground.” Twentieth

Century Literature, vol. 36, no. 2, 1990, pp. 207–24. JSTOR,

https://doi.org/10.2307/441822. Accessed 7 Mar. 2023.

Sanz Casares, Maria C. "J.M. Synges Riders to the Sea in Performance: From Specific

Realism to Universality." Estudios Irlandeses, vol. 2, 2007, pp. 53-66.