This helps to explain the long-lasting appeal of Conor McPherson's "The Weir, " whose successful 1999 Broadway run introduced New York playgoers to the most admired Irish playwright of his generation.
Since Hytner took over, more than thirty new writers (Lee Hall, Mike Bartlett, Lucy Prebble, ConorMcPherson, and Enda Walsh among them) have seen their works performed at the National.