Padraic Colum Colum started to write and met a number of the leading Irish writers of the time, including W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and Æ. He also joined the Gaelic League and was a member of the first board of the Abbey Theatre. He became a regular user of the National Library of Ireland, where he met James Joyce and the two became lifelong friends. During the riots caused by the Abbey Theatre's production of "The Playboy of the Western World", Padraic Colum's father, Patrick Columb, was one of the protestors. Padraic himself was not engaged in the protests, although he
J. B. Priestley ignorance and dirt and drunkenness and disease." He moved into a new genre and became equally well known as a dramatist. "Dangerous Corner" (1932) was the first of many plays that would enthrall West End theatre audiences. His best-known play is "An Inspector Calls" (1945). His plays are more varied in tone than the novels, several being influenced by J. W. Dunne's theory of time, which plays a part in the plots of "Dangerous Corner" (1932) and "Time and the Conways". In 1940, Priestley wrote an essay for "Horizon" magazine, where he criticised George Bernard Shaw for his support of