In 1926, concurrently with being called to the bar, a young Irish lawyer named Denis Johnston finished his first play, "Shadowdance," and submitted it to the internationally famous Abbey Theatre, Dublin, where it was read--and rejected--by William Butler Yeats, a director of the company. The play was rewritten and submitted two years later under a new title. This time it was turned down not only by Yeats but also by Lady Gregory, another director and a company playwright. The script was returned to the young would-be dramatist with a scrawled note, "the old lady says no." At this point, it was given to a new company in Dublin, the Gate Theatre, where, under still a third title, it was accepted immediately and produced in July 1929 as the last play of their inaugural season. The Old Lady Says "No!," as it was now called, had a Dublin success: that is...