Padraic Colum he became involved with the National Theatre Society and became involved in the founding of the Abbey Theatre, writing several of its early productions. His first play, "Broken Soil" (revised as The Fiddler's House) (1903) was performed by W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company. "The Land" (1905), was one of that theatre's first great public successes. He wrote another important play for the Abbey named "Thomas Muskerry" (1910). His earliest published poems appeared in "The United Irishman", a paper edited by Arthur Griffith. His first book, "Wild Earth" (1907) collected many of these poems and was dedicated to Æ.
George Bernard Shaw "The Bernard Shaw Society", remains active . More recent societies have been established in Japan and India. Besides his collected music criticism, Shaw has left a varied musical legacy, not all of it of his choosing. Despite his dislike of having his work adapted for the musical theatre ("my plays set themselves to a verbal music of their own") two of his plays were turned into musical comedies: "Arms and the Man" was the basis of "The Chocolate Soldier" in 1908, with music by Oscar Straus, and "Pygmalion" was adapted in 1956 as "My Fair Lady" with book and lyrics