ABSTRACT
Synges in the Shadow of the Glen is a one-act play based on a folktale about a jealous old husband who feigns death in order to test whether or not his wife will be instantly unfaithful. Nora is a garrulous woman to whom torrents of words come naturally. Within the limits of her life, her own natural gift for poetry creates a vast expanse of space and freedom beyond her limited frame of reference. Her youth has been circumscribed by marriage and the boundaries of an isolated farm. Dan Burke is lying under a sheet playing a corpse, while his wife Nora entertains two potential suitors who come to pay their respects. When Dan rises up finally and shows he is still alive, Nora suddenly realises that she has wasted her life being married to such a suspicious and jealous old fool and runs off with the lyrical tramp who has charmed her.
