The Playboy of the Western World

The play opens with Margaret “Pegeen Mike” Flaherty tending to her father’s public house. When he returns with some friends, she chides him for leaving her, imagining what dangers might lurk beyond the front doors. Suddenly, Christopher “Christy” Mahon staggers into Michael James Flaherty’s public-house, frightened and dirty. He is reticent to reveal himself, but after some prodding, Christy tells Pegeen Mike and her father that he has killed his own father, and left him in a ditch. At first appalled, Pegeen Mike and the others encourage Christy’s storytelling, finally hiring him to be the pot boy for the public-house.

The next morning, three local girls (Sara Tansey, Susan Brady, and Honor Blake) arrive, eager to see the young man who killed his father. When he sees them, Christy becomes shy and claims to have eyes only for Pegeen Mike. Complicating this is Shawn Keough, who is rightfully worried that Pegeen will abandon him for Christy. Widow Quin then attempts to seduce Christy