Sean O’Casey, great Irish playwright, attended a synagogue yesterday morning for the first time in his life. The visit also marked his first appearance in any religious edifice in twenty-five years.
O’Casey, the author of the much-discussed, “Within the Gates,” now playing at the National Theatre, attended services at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, 7 West Eighty-third street, to hear Rabbi Louis I. Newman discuss his play and to speak himself. After hearing the sermon based on the ethical concepts of his play, O’Casey responded briefly, explaining his motives in writing it and citing the great similarities between the Jewish and the Irish peoples.
Your reporter was the playwright’s guide for the day. Calling for him at the Hotel Devon,
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.