Lady Augusta Gregory (1852-1932) is one of Ireland’s most important literary figures, her influence and legacy still very much evident today. And yet people are mostly only aware of her founding role in the Abbey Theatre and her association with W.B. Yeats. And yet she was so much more than this.
A new audio documentary, narrated and produced by John Ingram and created to accompany an acclaimed two-part RTÉ series, seeks to give audiences a much better understanding of who Lady Gregory really was, and how her contribution to Ireland’s literary renaissance was far greater than she’s given credit for - listen to Lady Gregory - Ireland's First Social Influencer above.
Actor Miriam Margolyes and Senator Lynn Ruane are both talented, outspoken feminists who have had to overcome obstacles in their personal lives. Together, they become the audience’s eyes and ears on a journey of discovery that takes in London, Dublin, Galway and the Aran Islands.
In conversation with the recognised world expert on Lady Gregory, Dr. James Pethica, they give us a more complete, and vastly more interesting, version of Augusta Gregory. From her upbringing in a home that forbade the daughters to read novels, to becoming the young wife of the former Governor of Ceylon with whom she travelled extensively and learned to hold her own at dinner tables with the major political figures of the day.
Despite neither encouragement nor the means to develop her interests in literature when she was a child, Lady Gregory would go on to write nearly 40 plays and many short stories and become both mentor and patron to W.B. Yeats.
When in her forties, she decided to learn Irish which greatly assisted her interest in recording Irish folklore and translating and writing important books on the subject.
While her title and home at Coole Park near Gort gave the impression of a wealthy Ascendancy landowner, she faced financial struggles throughout her life, as the estate had been left encumbered by her late husband’s gambling debts.
But perhaps the most interesting facet of this complex, underestimated woman, was how she gradually changed from being a Unionist to an avowed Nationalist.
Lady Gregory was a complex, multi-faceted woman, her life a worthy subject for anyone who values Irish history.
Watch Lady Gregory - Ireland's First Social Influencer via RTÉ Player here.
