Juno and the Paycock

Irish-born playwright Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock was first produced in 1924 at the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s national theatre, in Dublin. This Realistic play is one of three plays (known as the “Dublin Trilogy”) that O’Casey wrote for the Abbey Theatre. Juno and the Paycock is anthologized in various collections, including Masters of Modern Drama by Haskell Block and Robert Shedd in 1962 (which this guide references).

The play is set entirely in a two-room tenement in Dublin, Ireland, in 1922 during the Irish Civil War. It focuses on the working-class struggles and patriotic efforts of the Boyle family. The characters’ dialogue showcases a Dublin dialect.

Plot Summary

Act I introduces the Boyle children, Johnny and Mary, both in their early 20s. Mary is on strike from her job, and Johnny has suffered the loss of his arm and a bullet in his hip fighting during the 1916 Easter Uprising and the recent Civil War. Juno, the mother, keeps everyone together by working and taking care of the house, while her unemployed husband, the former sea captain Jack, carouses with his neighbor/friend Joxer Daly at pubs and complains of pains in his legs.

In this first act, various couples argue, setting up the dramatic elements of the play. Juno and Jack argue because he doesn’t accept job offers due to his alleged pains, and Juno dislikes his carousing with Joxer. Mary and Jerry, former lovers, have split despite Jerry’s pleas for Mary to keep him. Johnny and Jack also seem unable to inhabit the same physical space.

Jerry has a job prospect from Father Farrell, the local priest, to give to Jack, but Jack is reluctant to take to it, even though Juno prods him. Mary then brings a new man to the tenement, teacher/lawyer-to-be Charlie Bentham, who shares the good news of Jack inheriting money from a deceased relative. The act poetically ends with Jack intent on changing his ways.

Act II takes place two days later and starts to show the beginnings of wealth with new furniture throughout the Boyle tenement. Mary and Juno arrive with the new gramophone that Jack requested. The Boyles gather, along with Joxer, Charlie (Mary’s current love interest), and neighbor Mrs. Madigan, around the gramophone for stories and singing. Jack even recites one of his poems. Johnny has a vision of Robbie Tancred, a neighbor’s son who recently died in the fighting, that unnerves him. Robbie’s mother, Mrs. Tancred, stops by the apartment to share her grief before leaving for his funeral. Everyone but Johnny goes outside to watch the funeral procession. Inside, Johnny receives a visit from a Young Man who demands they meet later that evening about Robbie’s death.

Act III opens in the Boyle home two months later with Mary telling her mother that Charlie has not written to her in the past month. Concerned about her daughter’s health, Juno takes Mary to the doctor. “Needle” Nugent, the local tailor, and Mrs. Madigan come by to see Jack, demanding he return their money. We learn that Jack has been borrowing money with the hope that he can pay it back once he receives the inheritance money. However, he has not received any inheritance money, and word on the street is that Jack won’t ever see any of it.

Juno returns to tell Jack that their daughter is pregnant with Charlie’s baby. Jack then confesses that they will not receive any inheritance money because Charlie messed up the writing of the will. Jack calls for Joxer, and they go out to drink one last time. Moving men suddenly arrive to take away the unpaid furniture. Johnny encourages Juno to notify Jack about the situation. While Juno is gone, two men labeled “Irregulars” arrive and drag Johnny away.

A brief break occurs, and when the curtain rises again, Mary and Juno are seated sans furniture. Mrs. Madigan arrives to tell them two police offers are downstairs and need to talk to Juno about Johnny. Juno realizes that Johnny has been killed and takes Mary down with her, stating that the two of them will live with her sister and leave Jack behind. Jack and Joxer arrive, drunk and incoherent, to a practically empty apartment in the final moments of the play. The curtain closes.

Various themes emerge from this play, including the cost of patriotism to Ireland, the questioning of religion’s role, and the concept of death and rebirth.