Life
1912- [James Bourke]; b. Dublin, son of Patrick Bourke, actor-playwright
and director of theatrical costumiers in Dublin; uncle of Brendan Behan.
plays include adaptation of Kickham’s Knockagow (1944); Thomas
Davis (1948); Limpid River (Gate Theatre, 11 June 1956); Mrs.
Howard’s Husband (16 Feb. 1959); The Boys and Girls are Gone
(1961); also a novel, Limpid River (1962), and a biography of the
author of the Irish national anthem, his uncle Peadar Kearney (1957).
DIW DIL OCIL.
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Works
[Robert Hogan, ed.,] ‘A Bourke/De Burca Double Number’, Journal
of Irish Literature, 2 & 3 (Jan.-May 1984) [incl. Northern
Insurgents: A Romantic Irish Drama of Ulster in 1798, pp.7-74, Handy
Andy: A Play in 3 Acts, adpt. from Samuel Lover, pp.87-140; also and
Kurt Jacobsen, interview with Seamus de Burca].
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Robert Hogan, ed., Dictionary of Irish Literature (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1979), born James Bourke; cites droll and savage The Howards, and The End of Mrs. Oblong (1968), a rambling imitation of Behan. Also an adaptation of Handy Andy (Lover), unproduced. Remarks, ‘Slovenly and long-winded on paper, but splendidly theatrical on stage.’ NOTE, The Howards (1960) is apparently Mrs. Howard’s Husband [see DIW supra]. NOTE, Robert Hogan, Seven Irish Plays, Introduction (Minnesota UP 1967), cites var. title, The Howards (16 Feb. 1959). IF2 does not cite Limpid River.
Cheryl Herr dedicated For the Land They Loved (Syracuse Press 1991)
to him ‘and others who do not fear to speak of ‘98’, calling
him ‘a national resource of the highest order’. See similar
comments in Stephen Watts, Joyce, O’Casey, and the Popular Irish
Theater (Syracuse UP 1991).
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)