Synge and Darwin on new stamps

IRISH PLAYWRIGHT John Millington Synge and English naturalist Charles Darwin are to be commemorated on two new stamps issued …

IRISH PLAYWRIGHT John Millington Synge and English naturalist Charles Darwin are to be commemorated on two new stamps issued by An Post.

Synge, who is best know for his play The Playboy of the Western World, features on a 55c stamp designed by artist Paul Raftery.

The stamp is being issued on Tuesday to mark the centenary of his death, and features an illustration of a scene from The Playboy by Irish artist Seán Keating

The play caused uproar on its opening night at the Abbey in Dublin in 1907, with the audience angered by its depiction of the peasantry in rural Ireland.

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Darwin, seen as the father of evolution, features on an 82c stamp celebrating the bicentenary of his birth that was issued yesterday. The stamp, designed by artist Steve Simpson, features a pen and ink drawing of Darwin housed by the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The stamps are available from www.irishstamps.ie or at post offices.

Steven Carroll

Steven Carroll

Steven Carroll is an Assistant News Editor with The Irish Times