Table Of Content“The canon of modern Irish plays ought to be as fluid and debat-
able as Ireland itself has been. This lively, stimulating and pleasantly
surprising re- thinking of the repertoire cracks open the hard shell of
assumptions to reveal the rich variousness of a dynamic and contrary
tradition.”
Fintan O’Toole, The Irish Times, Ireland
FIFTY KEY IRISH PLAYS
Fifty Key Irish Plays charts the progression of modern Irish drama
from Dion Boucicault’s entry on to the global stage of the Irish dias-
pora to the contemporary dramas created by the experiences of the
New Irish.
Each chapter provides a brief plot outline along with informed
analysis and, alert to the cultural and critical context of each play, an
account of the key roles that they played in the developing story of
Irish drama. While the core of the collection is based on the critical
canon, including work by J. M. Synge, Lady Gregory, Teresa Deevy,
and Brian Friel, plays such as Tom Mac Intyre’s The Great Hunger
and ANU Productions’ Laundry, which illuminate routes away from
the mainstream, are also included. With a focus on the develop-
ment of form as well as theme, the collection guides the reader to an
informed overview of Irish theatre via succinct and insightful essays
by an international team of academics.
This invaluable collection will be of particular interest to under-
graduate students of theatre and performance studies and to lay
readers looking to expand their appreciation of Irish drama.
Shaun Richards is Emeritus Professor of Irish Studies at Staffordshire
University. Publications include Mapping Irish Theatre: Theories of
Space and Place (Cambridge University Press, 2013), co-a uthored
with Chris Morash, and Contemporary Irish Documentary Theatre
(Bloomsbury, 2020), co- edited with Beatriz Kopschitz Bastos.
ROUTLEDGE KEY GUIDES
Fifty Key Theatre Directors
Shomit Mitter and Maria Shevtsova
Fifty Key Contemporary Thinkers
John Lechte
Art History
The Key Concepts
Jonathan Harris
Fifty Contemporary Choreographers
Jo Butterworth and Lorna Sanders
Fifty Key Figures in Latinx and Latin American Theatre
Paola S. Hernández and Analola Santana
Fifty Key Stage Musicals
Edited by Robert W. Schneider and Shannon Agnew
Fifty Key Irish Plays
Edited by Shaun Richards
Fifty Key Figures in Queer US Theatre
Edited by Jimmy A. Noriega and Jordan Schildcrout
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit: https://w ww.
routle dge.com/R outle dge- Key- Gui des/ book- ser ies/ RKG
FIFTY KEY IRISH PLAYS
Edited by
Shaun Richards
Cover image: Courtesy of the Abbey Theatre Archive. Set design by Dorothy Travers
Smith of Lear’s Palace for the Abbey Theatre’s first production of King Lear by William
Shakespeare, Abbey Theatre, 1928. The scorched corner of the image is witness to the fire
that destroyed the Abbey in 1951.
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Shaun Richards; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Shaun Richards to be identified as the author of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-i n- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Richards, Shaun, 1947– editor.
Title: Fifty key Irish plays / edited by Shaun Richards.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022005922 (print) | LCCN 2022005923 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032066509 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032066493 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003203216 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: English drama–Irish authors–History and criticism. |
Theater–Ireland–History. | Ireland–In literature.
Classification: LCC PR8783 .F54 2023 (print) |
LCC PR8783 (ebook) | DDC 822.009/9415–dc23/eng/20220425
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022005922
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022005923
ISBN: 9781032066509 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032066493 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003203216 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003203216
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Newgen Publishing UK
For Lucette – always.
CONTENTS
Alphabetical list of contents x
Notes on contributors xiv
Introduction 1
SHAUN RICHARDS
Fifty Key Irish Plays 11
ix
