SOURCE: Malone, Andrew E. “The Early History of the Abbey Theatre.” In The Irish Theatre: Lectures Delivered During the Abbey Theatre Festival Held in Dublin in August 1938, edited by Lennox Robinson, pp. 3-29. London, Great Britain: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1939.

In the following essay, originally given at the first Abbey Theatre Dramatic Festival in 1938, Malone recounts the early history of the Abbey Theatre.

Conscious as I am of the great compliment which has been paid to me by the invitation to deliver the opening address at this first Abbey Theatre Dramatic Festival, I feel myself more than a little out of place. This introductory lecture should be delivered by the only surviving member of the small group of enthusiasts which brought the Irish drama to life and which gave the Abbey Theatre to the nation. If the health of Dr. W. B. Yeats, to our great regret, does not...