Paul Vincent Carroll was born on the 10th July 1900 in Blackrock Co. Louth. He was educated at St Mary’s College Dundalk, and at St Patrick’s Training College in Dublin. In 1921, he immigrated to Glasgow, where he taught English and Maths in state schools, and in his spare time, he wrote short stories, and reviewed books. In 1930, he wrote his first play “The Watched Pot”, which was performed at the Peacock Theatre, and his next play, “Things that are Caesar’s” was performed at the Abbey. Carroll became a fulltime playwright after the amazing success of “Shadow and Substance” in 1937. In 1939, he wrote “The White Steed”, winning another New York Drama Critics Circle award, and several years later, in 1943, he helped to found the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, for whom he wrote and directed. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Kent, where he wrote screenplays, but in the meantime, continued to write plays, which included “The Wise Have Not Spoken” (1944) and “The Wayward Saint”, as well as some short stories. He died on the 20th October 1968. The plays of Carroll offer realistic treatments of small town life among schoolmasters, clergy and others, and provide social criticism of intolerance, while championing crusading liberal intellectuals.
