Kenneth Sarr

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]

Not to be confused with Kenneth Starr (disambiguation).

Biography

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
WorkYearTypeNotes
The Changeling1920PlayA 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"1922ArticleIn The Belvederian[24]
The Passing1924PlaySubtitled "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 Mag1924PlaySubtitled "A Christmas play in one act". Produced by the Abbey Theatre on 22 December 1924.[26][6]
The white bolle-trie1927NovelSubtitled "A wonder story". A children's story.[28]
Somewhere To The Sea1936NovelA roman a clef set around the truce ending the Irish War of Independence.[2][9]
Another Shore1945Noveladapted 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"1945ArticleIn Studies.[29]

References

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

Citations
  1. "John Kenneth Sheils Reddin 1895-1967 - Ancestry®".
  2. Hogan, Robert, ed. (2016). "Sarr, Kenneth". Macmillan Dictionary of Irish Literature. Macmillan. pp. 580–581. ISBN 9781349077953. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  3. "Obituary: Mr. Kenneth S. Reddin". The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal. 101: 328. 1967.
  4. "Half-length portrait of district justice and author Kenneth Reddin in 1962". Stills Library. RTÉ. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  5. "Tour of the House". Pearse Museum. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  6. "Kenneth Sarr". PlayographyIreland. Irish Theatre Institute. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  7. Feeney 1984 pp.252–253
  8. Feeney 1984 pp.67, 198, 208, 210 n11, 237
  9. 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. J. Falconer. 71: 227. 1937.
  17. "Retirement of District Justice Reddin". The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal. J. Falconer. 98: 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. 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. 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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