LOUIS ESSON (1879–1943), influenced by W.B. Yeats, pursued the idea of Australian folk drama on the model of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Esson met W. B. Yeats and J. M. Synge while travelling, and both advised him, against his inclination, to stick to Australian subjects. Esson worked to establish a nationalist drama in which themes of working-class urban and bush life would become the basis for great international artistic achievements. He founded the amateur company Pioneer Players with Hilda Bull, Vance Palmer and others, which strove to bring Australian plays to the public. The Time Is Not Yet Ripe, a political comedy, is his best known work. His other plays include Dead Timber, a gloomy picture of life on a small selection, The Drovers and Mother and Son which all set the tone for much of the grim outback drama of the 1930s and 1940s. While his plays The Woman Tamer, The Sacred Place and The Bride of Gospel Place, leant towards comedy and were colourful portraits of low life in inner Melbourne. He died in 1943.