Sean O'Casey was born in Dublin in 1880. The first half of his life was spent as a labourer, but he became involved in the Irish struggle for independence and was secretary of the Irish Citizen Army. His great trilogy of early plays, The Shadow of a Gunman (1923), Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough and the Stars (1926 ) all opened at the Abbey Theatre. He died in Devon, England, in 1964.