In 1910, germinal Author, Playwright and Poet, John Millington Synge — published “Deirdre of the Sorrows” — his last, and most underrated, work.

Synge died before he could finish the play, so his friend, and mentor, William Butler Yeats, helped complete the play with the assistance of Synge’s betrothed, Molly Allgood.

Deirdre of the Sorrows is steeped in Irish mythology and the story of Deirdre and Conchobar — and in this Boles Blogs redaction, I have taken the three-act play and reduced the entire plot into seven sentences in which the word “stars” appears eight times in the play — in order to show how a master Playwright can use a single word to lash together the entire structure of a play with a single meme; and notice how “stars” is used as a common touchstone only by Deirdre and Naisi throughout the entire play, except at the end, when Lavarcham alone invokes their sacred word to resurrect, and codify, the Deirdre and Naisi covenant.

Continue reading → Deirdre of the Sorrows Redacted: Ten Sentence Story #120