O'Casey's works have always been known, first and foremost, for their realistic elements. Before O'Casey, most Irish dramas were drastically different. As Bernard Benstock says in his 1970 book Sean O'Casey, O'Casey "changed the nature of Irish drama from peasant comedies to a presumably realistic drama of Dublin slum life." In fact, as Maureen Malone notes about the play, "Among the criticisms levelled at the early plays of Sean O'Casey was the accusation that he had merely presented a factual commentary upon contemporary history." O'Casey's reputation steadily improved throughout his career, and, as Ronald Ayling notes, O'Casey has long been recognized "as the first and best dramatist of the Dublin tenements during the Irish 'troubles' (1916—1923)."

By the time he wrote Red Roses for Me, O'Casey had begun to mix realistic techniques with other techniques such as symbolism. Yet, while some critics discuss these aspects of the...