Kenneth Sarr

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Not to be confused with Kenneth Starr (disambiguation).

Kenneth Sheils Reddin (born John Kenneth Sheils Reddin; 1895 – 17 August 1967[1]) known by the pen name Kenneth Sarr, was an Irish author and judge.[2][3][4]

Biography[edit]

Reddin was born in Dublin to John [J. J.] and Annie Reddin.[4] He attended Belvedere College, Clongowes Wood College, and from 1910 Scoil Éanna,[5] where Thomas McDonagh and Patrick Pearse were formative influences.[6] His first pseudonym was Kenneth Esser (from "Kenneth S. R.") later shortened to Kenneth Sarr.[7] He joined the Irish Volunteers and was interned after the Easter Rising.[4] Literary figures often met at J.J. Reddin's house and Kenneth was associated with the Irish Theatre Company in Hardwicke Street, where his brothers Kerry and Norman acted.[8] He attended University College Dublin and qualified as a solicitor.[3] He was a member of the United Arts Club[9] and sometime President of the Irish PEN Club.[10] He visited James Joyce in Paris several times, first with a gift of Olhausen's black pudding, later at a PEN congress.[11][12] Joyce, during his father's final illness, telegraphed Reddin's brother Dr Kerry Reddin about his treatment.[13][14]

Reddin supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and his father's house in Artane was burned in the Irish Civil War.[15] In 1922 he was appointed a District Court judge based in Mullingar,[4] later moving to the Newbridge[16] and then Dublin districts.[17] In court he wore what Terry De Valera called "his self-designed headdress like a black biretta".[18] As well as writing plays and novels, he collected humorous anecdotes from his judicial work intended for a book to be called Laughter in My Court.[19] In 1941 he objected to an article in PEN's magazine which he said was "propaganda, attacking the neutrality of Eire, and that all we wanted was to be left alone".[20] In 1948, Erina Brady appointed him President of her short-lived Dublin Dance Theatre Club.[21]

He retired from the bench on 19 March 1965.[17]

His papers are held by the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas.[22]

Works written by Kenneth Sarr / Kenneth Reddin
Work Year Type Notes
The Changeling 1920 Play A two-act allegory produced by the Irish Theatre Company.[7] The premiere was postponed a week from Bloody Sunday and the audience was "meagre" due to the curfew then in force.[23]
"In a Sinn Fein Court" 1922 Article In The Belvederian[24]
The Passing 1924 Play Subtitled "A tragedy in one act". Produced by the Abbey Theatre on 9 December 1924.[25][6][5] Won the drama prize at the 1924 Tailteann Games.[26][27] Its subject matter, a prostitute with an idiot son, was condemned by some viewers.[27][26]
Old Mag 1924 Play Subtitled "A Christmas play in one act". Produced by the Abbey Theatre on 22 December 1924.[26][6]
The white bolle-trie 1927 Novel Subtitled "A wonder story". A children's story.[28]
Somewhere To The Sea 1936 Novel A roman a clef set around the truce ending the Irish War of Independence.[2][9]
Another Shore 1945 Novel adapted in 1948 into an Ealing comedy of the same name.[6] Published in the United States as Young man with a dream.
"A Man called Pearse" 1945 Article In Studies.[29]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

  • Feeney, William J. (1984). Drama in Hardwicke Street: A History of the Irish Theatre Company. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 9780838631881.

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ "John Kenneth Sheils Reddin 1895-1967 - Ancestry®".
  2. ^ a b Hogan, Robert, ed. (2016). "Sarr, Kenneth". Macmillan Dictionary of Irish Literature. Macmillan. pp. 580–581. ISBN 9781349077953. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Obituary: Mr. Kenneth S. Reddin". The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal. 101: 328. 1967.
  4. ^ a b c d "Half-length portrait of district justice and author Kenneth Reddin in 1962". Stills Library. RTÉ. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Tour of the House". Pearse Museum. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d "Kenneth Sarr". PlayographyIreland. Irish Theatre Institute. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  7. ^ a b Feeney 1984 pp.252–253
  8. ^ Feeney 1984 pp.67, 198, 208, 210 n11, 237
  9. ^ a b Boylan, Patricia (1988). All Cultivated People: A History of the United Arts Club, Dublin. Smythe. pp. 106, 165–166. ISBN 9780861402663.
  10. ^ Matheson, Steve (1985). Maurice Walsh, storyteller. Dingle: Brandon. p. 100. ISBN 0863220525.
  11. ^ Mikhail, E. H., ed. (1990). "Worth Half a Dozen Legations". James Joyce: Interviews and Recollections. Springer. pp. 159–160. ISBN 9781349094226.
  12. ^ Joyce, James (2017). "Letters: To C.P. Curran, 17 August 1937". The Complete Works Of James Joyce. Musaicum Press. ISBN 9788027200603. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  13. ^ Letters Of James Joyce. Viking. 1957. p. 309. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  14. ^ James Joyce by Richard Ellman p642
  15. ^ Dillon, Myles (1999). The Correspondence of Myles Dillon, 1922–1925: Irish-German Relations and Celtic Studies. Four Courts Press. p. 83. ISBN 9781851824090.
  16. ^ "Week to Week". The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal. 71. J. Falconer: 227. 1937.
  17. ^ a b "Retirement of District Justice Reddin". The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal. 98. J. Falconer: 137. 1965.
  18. ^ De Valera, Terry (2004). A Memoir. Currach Press. p. 248. ISBN 9781856079112.
  19. ^ Allen, Gregory (24 February 2001). "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  20. ^ Brady, Deirdre (2017). ""Writers and the International Spirit": Irish PEN in the Postwar Years" (PDF). New Hibernia Review. 21 (3): 116–130 : 122. doi:10.1353/nhr.2017.0037. hdl:10344/6633. S2CID 148827919.
  21. ^ McGrath, Aoife (2012). Dance Theatre in Ireland: Revolutionary Moves. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 61. ISBN 9781137035479. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  22. ^ "Writings and correspondence of Kenneth Reddin, 1914–1958". etext.ku.edu. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  23. ^ Feeney 1984 p.274
  24. ^ Bowman, John; O'Donoghue, Ronan (1982). Portraits: Belvedere College, Dublin, 1832–1982. Gill and Macmillan. p. 62.
  25. ^ Welch, Robert (2003). The Abbey Theatre, 1899–1999: Form and Pressure. Oxford University Press. p. 91. ISBN 9780199261352. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  26. ^ a b c Hogan, Robert Goode; Burnham, Richard (1992). The Years of O'Casey, 1921–1926: A Documentary History. University of Delaware Press. pp. 184, 211–213. ISBN 9780851054285. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  27. ^ a b Reynolds, Paige (2007). Modernism, Drama, and the Audience for Irish Spectacle. Cambridge University Press. p. 186. ISBN 9780521872997. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  28. ^ "The white bolle-trie; a wonder story". Digital Collections. Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  29. ^ Reddin, Kenneth (1945). "A Man Called Pearse". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 34 (134): 241–251. JSTOR 30099573.
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