Exiles (play) Exiles (play) Exiles is James Joyce's only extant play and draws on the story of "The Dead", the final short story in Joyce's story collection "Dubliners". The play was rejected by W. B. Yeats for production by the Abbey Theatre. Its first major London performance was in 1970, when Harold Pinter directed it at the Mermaid Theatre. In terms of both its critical and popular reception, "Exiles" has proven the least successful of all of Joyce's published works. In making his case for the defence of the play, Padraic Colum conceded: "...critics have recorded their feeling that ["Exiles"] has not
Abbey Theatre by Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and W. B. Yeats in 1899—with assistance from George Moore—it presented plays in the Antient Concert Rooms and the Gaiety Theatre, which brought critical approval but limited public interest. Lady Gregory envisioned a society promoting "ancient idealism" dedicated to crafting works of Irish theatre pairing Irish culture with European theatrical methods. The second base involved the work of two Dublin directors, William and Frank Fay. William worked in the 1890s with a touring company in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, while his brother Frank was involved in amateur dramatics in Dublin. After William returned to Dublin,