Denis Johnston

Denis Johnston was an Irish writer who wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay of Jonathan Swift, a memoir and an eccentric work on cosmology and philosophy. He also worked as a war correspondent, and as both a radio and television producer for the BBC. His first play, The Old Lady Says "No!", helped establish the worldwide reputation of the Dublin Gate Theatre; his second, The Moon in the Yellow River, has been performed around the globe in numerous productions featuring such storied names as James Mason, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, Barry Fitzgerald, James Coco and Errol Flynn. Later plays dealt with the life of Swift, the 1916 Rebellion, the pursuit of justice, and the fear of death. He wrote two opera libretti and a pageant. He was a protégé of Yeats and Shaw, and had a stormy friendship with Seán O'Casey. He was a pioneer of television and war reporting. He worked as a lawyer in the 1920s and '30s before joining the BBC as a writer and producer, first in radio and then in the fledgling television service. His broadcast dramatic work included both original plays and adaptation of the work of many different writers. He was passionate in his radical scepticism and loathing of what he saw as the pernicious influence of the Roman Catholic Church. He was one of the founders of The Secular Society of Ireland, which sought to establish complete freedom of thought, speech and publication in the country. He died of cancer in 1984 at the age of 83.