George Roberts (publisher) George Roberts (publisher) George Roberts (1873–1953) was an Irish actor, poet and publisher. He was born in Belfast and became an actor with the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. He co-founded the publishing house of Maunsel and Company with Stephen Gwynn and Joseph Maunsel Hone. This firm published works by W. B. Yeats, John Millington Synge, Lady Gregory, George William Russell, James Stephens, Douglas Hyde and others and became part of the Irish Literary Revival. Between 1909 and 1912, when he visited Dublin, Joyce negotiated with Roberts to publish his book Dubliners, but their contract was not fulfilled, owing to a series
Abbey Theatre Moore, Martyn, Padraic Colum, George Bernard Shaw, Oliver St John Gogarty, F. R. Higgins, Thomas MacDonagh, Lord Dunsany, T. C. Murray, James Cousins and Lennox Robinson. Many of these authors served on the board, and it was during this time that the Abbey gained its reputation as a writers' theatre. The Abbey's fortunes worsened in January 1907 when the opening of Synge's "The Playboy of the Western World" resulted in civil disturbance. The troubles (since known as the "Playboy Riots") were encouraged, in part, by nationalists who believed the theatre was insufficiently political and who took offence at Synge's use