Two plays for dancers

In Short

This volume collects two verse dramas designed for minimalist performance: The Dreaming of the Bones and The Only Jealousy of Emer. Rooted in Irish mythology and the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising, the plays follow a fleeing rebel encountering ancient spirits, and a devoted wife bargaining with immortal entities to restore her fallen husband's soul. Through spare staging, masked actors, and chorus commentary, the work explores how guilt, memory, and political violence endure across generations. It has lasted for its innovative fusion of Japanese Noh theater techniques with Ireland's tragic heritage, offering an unforgettable meditation on history and grief.

The Story

The collection brings together two austere, ritualistic plays where human tragedy intersects with the supernatural world.

In The Dreaming of the Bones, the action opens in the hour before dawn in County Clare. A young Irish rebel, fleeing for his life after fighting in the Dublin Post Office during the Easter Rising, makes his way toward the coast where an Aran boat is scheduled to rescue him. Stumbling in the dark, he meets a mysterious Young Man and Girl dressed in archaic clothing and wearing heroic masks. Offering to guide him through the treacherous mountain paths past the ruined Abbey of Corcomroe, they reveal that the surrounding hills are haunted by spirits doomed to relive their earthly lives in a state of dreaming penance. As they ascend toward the summit, the guides explain that certain accursed souls suffer a bitter fate: though their eyes may meet, their lips can never touch because the memory of their crime constantly drives them apart. When the rebel asks what sin could merit seven hundred years of such torment, the guides reveal their identity. They are Dermot and Dervorgilla, the medieval lovers whose adulterous union and subsequent political betrayal led them to invite the foreign Norman army into Ireland, laying the foundation for centuries of English conquest. The spirits plead for a single word of forgiveness from a living Irish descendant, which would finally break their curse and allow their lips to meet. Bound by his fierce devotion to his country and his anger over Ireland's long subjugation, the young rebel adamantly refuses to forgive them. The ghostly lovers perform a passionate, sorrowful dance of separation before dissolving into the gathering mountain mist, leaving the rebel shaken by the terrible temptation of their plea as daylight breaks.

The Only Jealousy of Emer shifts to a smoke-blackened fisherman's cottage where the legendary hero Cuchulain lies in his grave-clothes after a fit of tragic madness. Having unknowingly slain his own son in battle, Cuchulain had frantically fought the ocean waves until he collapsed, leaving his body seemingly lifeless. His wife, Queen Emer, invites his newest young mistress, Eithne Inguba, to join her at the bedside, recognizing that both women are united by their deep love for him. When Eithne's tender kisses fail to revive him and instead awaken a malicious, distorted spirit named Bricriu of the Sidhe who has possessed the body, Emer steps forward to negotiate. Bricriu offers a harsh bargain: he will restore Cuchulain's soul, but only if Emer permanently renounces her one remaining hope—that she and Cuchulain will ever again sit together by the hearth in their old age. Meanwhile, Cuchulain's ghost wanders near the shore of the underworld, where a radiant, metallic Woman of the Sidhe tries to lure him into eternal oblivion, offering a kiss that will erase all painful human memories. Just as Cuchulain hesitates on the brink of surrendering to the immortal dancer, Emer speaks her vow of sacrifice, giving up all future hope of his affection. Her selfless act instantly breaks the enchantment, driving the supernatural entities away. Cuchulain awakens back in the physical world, but he immediately reaches out to take his mistress Eithne in his arms, entirely unaware of the supreme sacrifice his wife has made to save his life.

How It Unfolds

A fugitive climbs the dark hills Escaping the bloody aftermath of the Dublin Rising, a young rebel stumbles through the dark landscape of County Clare toward a coastal rescue point. He accepts the guidance of two masked strangers who know every secret pathway through the ancient terrain.

The haunting of the mountain path As the trio ascends past the ruined Abbey of Corcomroe, the guides describe the phantom penances suffered by local ghosts. The musicians chant of dry dreaming bones while the guides reveal their centuries-old curse of eternal separation.

The refusal of national absolution Recognizing the guides as Dermot and Dervorgilla—the ancient traitors who brought foreign conquerors to Ireland—the rebel listens as they beg for his forgiveness to end their torment. Fiercely loyal to his cause, he repeatedly refuses, watching them vanish into the morning mist after an agonizing dance.

A hero's corpse by the shore Inside a dim fisher's cottage, Queen Emer keeps watch over the inert body of her husband Cuchulain, who collapsed after fighting the sea. She summons his young mistress, Eithne Inguba, hoping the girl's fresh affection can call his wandering spirit back.

The bargain of the hearth An evil spirit, Bricriu of the Sidhe, possesses the body and demands that Emer renounce all hope of ever reuniting with Cuchulain in their quiet old age. Meanwhile, an immortal sea-woman attempts to entice Cuchulain's phantom into forgetting his earthly life forever.

The tragic restoration To save her husband from eternal temptation by the sea-woman, Emer yields her cherished hope to the spirit. Cuchulain instantly revives in the living world, yet he turns past his devoted wife to seek comfort in the arms of his mistress.

The People

• The Young Man

A tired, pragmatic Irish nationalist on the run after fighting in Dublin's General Post Office. He wants to reach the coast safely to avoid capture and execution, but his deep devotion to Irish independence makes it impossible for him to forgive the ancient traitors who first invited foreign rule into his homeland.

• Dermot and Dervorgilla (The Stranger and The Girl)

The spirits of Ireland's historic medieval lovers who brought in Norman forces to fight their personal wars. They want absolution from a living descendant of their race so their tragic seven-hundred-year penance will end, allowing their lips to meet at last. Their plea is ultimately rejected, leaving them bound to their eternal isolation.

• Queen Emer

The steadfast, long-suffering wife of the legendary warrior Cuchulain. She wants above all to preserve her husband's life and retain a single thread of hope that they will sit together by the hearth in old age. Faced with his spiritual death, she selflessly sacrifices her personal happiness to restore his life, ending up entirely unacknowledged by the man she saved.

• Cuchulain

The renowned, violent warrior hero of Irish myth, now swooning between life and death after killing his son in madness. Caught in the underworld, he struggles between the entice of immortal oblivion and the lingering weight of human memory. He returns to life fragile and fearful, turning to his mistress rather than his wife.

• Eithne Inguba

Cuchulain’s young, hesitant mistress who genuinely loves him despite her guilt toward Emer. She wants to use her youth and beauty to call him back from death, but she retreats in terror when confronted by supernatural forces.

In Its Own Voice

"They have not that luck, / But are more lonely, those that are buried there, / Warred in the heat of the blood"

A mysterious girl on the mountain path explains to the fleeing rebel that common sinners rest easier in the earth than those who betrayed their own nation.

"Although they have no blood or living nerves / Who once lay warm and live the live-long night / In one another's arms... / Their manner of life were blessed could their lips / A moment meet"

The spirit describes the agonizing penalty of her love, where ghosts are endlessly driven apart by the memory of their historical crime whenever they draw near.

"We're but two women struggling with the sea."

Queen Emer speaks to her husband's mistress, setting aside personal rivalry in a desperate attempt to rescue Cuchulain's soul from the supernatural forces of the deep.

What It's Really About

The collection explores how the weight of history and memory shapes human destiny. The Dreaming of the Bones examines the unyielding nature of political trauma, asking whether a nation's historical wounds can ever be forgiven when their consequences still bleed into the present. The young rebel's refusal to pardon Dermot and Dervorgilla shows how personal passions and ancient political choices echo across centuries, locking both the living and the dead into cycles of bitterness.

The Only Jealousy of Emer investigates the tragic complexity of love, sacrifice, and human flaw. It contrasts the ideal, static beauty of the immortal realm with the messy, painful realities of mortal affection. Through Emer's quiet surrender of her ultimate desire, the text suggests that genuine devotion often requires absolute self-effacement, even when the recipient remains blind to the cost.

Why Read It Today

Readers drawn to poetic drama, mythological retellings, and modern Irish history will find these short plays deeply moving. Yeats crafts an atmosphere of stark, haunting beauty by paring down theatrical elements to their barest essentials—incorporating chorus commentary, stylized movement, and symbolic masks to convey overwhelming emotional states.

The text presents unique stylistic challenges: its poetic verse demands slow, attentive reading, and the narrative assumes some familiarity with early twentieth-century Irish politics as well as traditional Ulster Cycle mythology. The formal cadence of the chorus and the sparse stage directions read more like dramatic ritual than conventional narrative prose.

Yet what abides is the intense, lingering mood of loneliness and unresolved longing. The image of spectral lovers drifting across barren limestone hills, and the silent agony of a wife relinquishing her future for a husband who will never thank her, resonate far beyond their original historical moment. These plays offer a brief, potent experience of how art can transform political grief and personal tragedy into enduring myth.