The Tailor and Ansty by Eric Cross was first published as in a booking 1942 and banned shortly afterwards. It was adapted for the stage at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 1967. The banning on the grounds of alleged indecency and obscenity was to lay bare once again the absurdity that was Irish censorship. In the ensuing four-day debate in The Irish Senate, one Senator who claimed to have read all authors 'from Rabelais down', said he had never read a 'finer collection of smut'. Priests descended on the cottage the couple owned and terrorised them into burning a copy of the book on their own fire. The tailor, Timothy Buckley, was a great storyteller (Seanchi) and he and his wife Ansty used to hold court in their cottage near Gougane Barra in West Cork, Ireland, welcoming all to their fireside. Eric Cross recreated the conversations and seanchas of the tailor along with the bawdy anarchic interruptions of his wife. The tailor never travelled further than Scotland, yet the breadth of the world could not contain the wealth of his humour and fantasy. His stories on marriages, inquests, matchmaking, wakes and their black cow were told nightly to a packed cottage. The Tailor and Ansty is a fictionalized, even romanticized account of a lost world. It is a celebration of life, full of flurry and gaiety. It would never have been Cross's intention or expectation to hurt anybody, least of all the old couple, who, delighted with the book itself, must have been terribly hurt by what followed, however much they might pretend otherwise to spare the author's feelings. When the ban was lifted in 1963, Cross's novel about their life became a classic of folkloric literature and was adapted for stage by P.J. O'Connor and was performed at The Abbey Theatre with Eamon Kelly and Brig Lynch in the title roles. The couple lived in Gougana Barra, West Cork The Tailor (1860-1945) and his wife Ansty (1862-1947) they are buried in the graveyard by the lake in a beautiful part of the Gougane Barra, West Cork.| 8 Jul 08 to 3 Aug 08 | Old Red Lion Inner London, Greater London Performance Details => Venue archive |
