'The great spirit of this whole period was all around us in Jacob's ...] What might happen if we lost meant nothing: life or death, freedom or imprisonment, these things did not enter into it at all.'--M ire Nic Shuibhlaigh ***M ire Nic Shuibhlaigh was a founder actress of the Abbey Theatre and its first leading lady on its opening in 1904 when she played the Countess Kathleen in W.B. Yeats's Cathleen ni Houlihan. Her beauty and talent captivated both national and international audiences and critics. Portrait artists queued up to paint her. Revolutionaries and poets wrote plays for her. The Pearse brothers, A.E., Countess Markievicz, J. M. Synge and W. B. Yeats counted among her admirers. The book is a first-hand account of some of the momentous events that shaped Irish history. It deals with the establishment of the Abbey Theatre and Maire's role as leader of the Cumann na mBan 'girls' in Jacob's Biscuit Factory during the Rising. M ire's writing adds an authentic voice to the witnesses of that time. Subject: History, Irish Studies, Theatre Studies, Memoir]