Druid's production of Deirdre of the Sorrows is available online for free
Druid and Wildfire Films have now made the 2005 production of Deirdre of the Sorrows available to watch online for free alongside The Playboy of the Western World, Riders to the Sea, The Shadow of the Glen and The Well of the Saints.
In 2005, Druid presented the first ever staging of John Millington Synge's entire theatrical canon. Directed by Garry Hynes, DruidSynge was performed as a series of plays on consecutive days or as a special festival experience of all six plays on the same day.
Deirdre of the Sorrows is Synge’s last play. Begun in the autumn of 1907, Synge was still reworking it at the time of his death in March 1909. Synge based his last play on an Old Irish story Longes mac nUislenn, ‘The Exile of the Sons of Usna’, so entitled in its earliest form in the 12th century Book of Leinster.
Synge’s Deirdre is loving and heroic and sets fate on when she induces the great young warrior Naisi to escape with her to Scotland, so avoiding marriage to the aged King Conchubar. After seven years the lovers return to Ireland, won over by promises from Conchubar’s emissary, Fergus, but inwardly fearing division between themselves more than death itself.
So far, the DruidSynge recordings have been viewed in 50 countries around the world.
Druid’s Deirdre of the Sorrows is now available via https://vimeo.com/428098987
Druid's The Well of the Saints is now available via https://vimeo.com/420653982
Druid's The Shadow of the Glen is now available via https://vimeo.com/411063868
Druid’s Riders to the Sea is now available via https://vimeo.com/405785623
Druid's The Playboy of the Western World is now available via https://vimeo.com/401020599