The Tinker's Wedding

(1908)

This play premiered at His Majesty's Theatre in London, England on 11 November, 1909, after Synge's death earlier that year.

The setting of this play is a roadside near a chapel in rural Ireland. As the title suggests, the main characters are Irish Tinkers. Sarah Casey convinces the reluctant Michael Byrne to marry her by threatening to run off with another man. She accosts a local priest, and convinces him to wed them for ten shillings and a tin can. Michael's mother shows up drunk and harasses the priest, then steals the can to exchange it for more drink. The next morning Sarah and Michael go to the chapel to be wed, but when the priest finds that the can is missing he refuses to perform the ceremony. Sarah protests and a fight breaks out that ends with the priest tied up in a sack. The tinkers free him after he swears not to set the police after them and he curses them in God's name as they flee in mock terror.

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