_PRESS OPINIONS OF PERFORMANCES._
"The Turn of the Road" ... is beyond question one of the most sterling products of the Irish literary revival ever seen at the Abbey Theatre.
Whether depicting a matchmaker like the astute Mrs. Granahan ... or reproducing the conversation of farmers just returned from fair or market, discussing parish affairs or speculating on harvest prospects, the author is equally delightful and successful.--_Irish Times._
The "Turn of the Road" ... is one of the most successful pieces ever written dealing with Irish life. The author "Rutherford Mayne" has drawn his characters with a master"s hand and they stand out clear and distinct.--_Freeman"s Journal._
The play was of engrossing interest and was a masterpiece of composition which speaks hopefully of the work to be expected of the Ulster School of Drama.--_Daily Express._
"The Turn of the Road" is a brilliantly written comedy characteristic of the County of Down.--_Irish Independent._
The charm of this little play is delightful and natural; its comedy is beautifully balanced and its pathos ... superb and admirably restrained.--_Evening Herald._
"The Turn of the Road" is a clever and poetic conception clothed in smart effective County Down dialogue with many bright and sparkling lines. The significance, the pathos, and inherent beauty of the concluding scene is a piece of consummate art.--_Belfast Newsletter._
The author ... builds his scenes out of simple materials but always with the eye of a craftsman for striking effects and incidents.... The "Return from Market," "The Marriage Bargain," and the last scene ...
have the illusion of life, and are in a phrase--which, though blunted by misuse, expresses a real need in Irish Art--"racy of the soil"--_The Northern Whig._
"The Turn of the Road" is a cleverly constructed picture of life in a County Down farmhouse, evidently drawn by one who knew his characters or their prototypes in the flesh.--_Irish News._
It is a play that transports the hedge rows, the farm kitchen with its dresser and turf fire, and above all the real vernacular right into our preception more vividly than an experience. The author has written a remarkable fine play of life, humour, and realism.--_Nomad"s Weekly and Belfast Critic._
Into the brief compa.s.s of his two acts Mr. Rutherford Mayne has compressed the age-long att.i.tude of Ulster towards the arts.... Light is breaking after the long Arctic night. The very existence of this poignant play pregnantly indicates that the old order is changing and must soon give place to the new.--_The Lady of the House._
The more we see this peasant drama in two scenes and an epilogue, the more we admire its unpretending art and its real greatness.--_Belfast Evening Telegraph._