St John G Ervine

St. John Greer Ervine was an Irish historian, author, critic, dramatist, and stage manager. He was the most important Ulster writer of the early twentieth century, as well as a major Irish dramatist whose works impacted W. B. Yeats' and Sean O'Casey's plays. The Wayward Man was one of the first novels to examine the character and struggles of Belfast. Ervine was born John Greer Irvine in Ballymacarrett, east Belfast, in the shadow of the shipyards, to deaf parents. For the past 300 years, every...See more

St. John Greer Ervine was an Irish historian, author, critic, dramatist, and stage manager. He was the most important Ulster writer of the early twentieth century, as well as a major Irish dramatist whose works impacted W. B. Yeats' and Sean O'Casey's plays. The Wayward Man was one of the first novels to examine the character and struggles of Belfast. Ervine was born John Greer Irvine in Ballymacarrett, east Belfast, in the shadow of the shipyards, to deaf parents. For the past 300 years, every member of his family was born in County Down. His father, a printer, died shortly after his birth, so the family moved in with Ervine's grandmother, who managed a small business. Ervine met George Bernard Shaw in London and began writing journalism as well as his first plays, assuming the name St John Ervine "as more fitting for his ambitions". Mixed Marriage, his first full-length drama, premiered at Dublin's Abbey Theatre in 1911. It ran for several seasons as one of the Abbey's most profitable plays. Yeats complimented Ervine's plays for presenting the genuine existence of the people of Northern Ireland in the same way that Synge's work did for those of Western Ireland. Ervine was standing behind Emily Davison at The Derby in June 1913 when King George V's horse tragically injured her. In 1915, Yeats appointed Ervine as the Abbey's General Manager. Ervine's term was commercially successful. See less