Irish Theatre in Transition: From the Late Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century

284 Pages·2015·1.105 MB·English

by  Donald E. Morse

Irish Theatre in Transition
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Irish Theatre in Transition
From the Late Nineteenth to the Early
Twenty-First Century
Edited by
Donald E. Morse
University of Debrecen, Hungary
Introduction, selection & editorial matter © Donald E. Morse 2015
Individual chapters © Contributors 2015
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
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The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
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ISBN 978–1–137–45068–5
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Irish theatre in transition : from the late nineteenth to the early
twenty-first century / Donald E. Morse [editor].
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–1–137–45068–5
1. English drama—Irish authors—History and criticism. 2. English
drama—20th century—History and criticism. 3. English drama—21st
century—History and criticism. 4. Theater—Ireland—History. I. Morse,
Donald E., 1936– editor.
PR8789.I68 2015
822'.91099417—dc23 2014038807
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
To Christopher Murray
Who taught us all
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
List of Tables x
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xii
Notes on Contributors xiii
Introduction: The Irish Theatre in Transition 1
Donald E. Morse
Part I Foundations and Refoundations in Historical
Perspective
1 The Irish Theatre: The First Hundred Years, 1897–1997 13
Christopher Murray
Part II Engaging with a Changing Reality
2 Black Hole Experiences: Moochers, Smoochers, Dig Outs
and the Parables and Spasms of Time in Conor
McPherson’s The Night Alive 33
Eamonn Jordan
3 Queer Creatures, Queer Place: Otherness and Normativity
in Irish Drama from Synge to Friel 54
José Lanters
4 Troubled Relations of Gender and Generation in Celtic
Tiger Drama: Stella Feehily’s Duck and O Go My Man 68
Mária Kurdi
5 ‘The Politics of Aging’: Frank McGuinness’s
The Hanging Gardens 82
Donald E. Morse
Part III Enhanced Theatricality
6 Theatricality and Self-Reflexivity: The Play-within-the-Play
in Select Contemporary Irish Plays 99
Csilla Bertha
vii
viii Contents
7 When the Mirror Laughs: Face to Face with Three Recent
Irish Stage Worlds 122
Eric Weitz
8 Then Like Gigli, Now Like Bette: The Grotesque and
the Sublime in Mark O’Rowe’s Terminus 137
Ondˇrej Pilný
Part IV Reframing Transition
9 Shakespearean Productions at the Abbey Theatre,
1970–1985 149
Patrick Lonergan
10 Snapshots: A Year in the Life of a Theatre Judge 162
Nicholas Grene
11 The Irish Play on the London Stage: An Overview
from Independence to the Present 178
Peter James Harris
Part V Inventiveness and Expanding the Stage
12 The Diverse Dramatic Contributions of Frank
McGuinness 191
Helen Heusner Lojek
13 Pat Kinevane’s Forgotten and Silent: Universalizing
the Abject 205
Joan FitzPatrick Dean
14 Writing for ‘the real national theatre’: Stewart Parker’s
Plays for Television 216
Clare Wallace
15 Playing with Minds: Beckett on Film 230
Dawn Duncan
Part VI On the ‘Re-Foundation’ of the Irish Theatre
16 Sam Shepard, Irish Playwright 241
Stephen Watt
Further Reading 257
Index 260
List of Illustrations
1.1 The original Abbey Theatre recreated digitally from
archival materials. Image research by Hugh Denard with
visualization by Nóho 20
5.1 Niall Buggy (Sam Grant) in The Hanging Gardens by Frank
McGuinness. Directed by Patrick Mason. Photograph by
Ros Kavanagh. Courtesy of the Abbey Theatre 93
6.1 Angel Landy (Fiona O’Shaunessy) in Blackwater Angel
by Jim Nolan. Directed by Mark Glesser. Photograph by
Jessica Brown. Courtesy of the Finborough Theatre 109
7.1 Una Kavanagh (Alpha A) in The Boys of Foley Street.
Anu Productions. Directed by Louise Lowe. Photograph
by Pat Redmond. Courtesy of Anu Productions 133
8.1 Andrea Irvine, Aidan Kelly and Eileen Walsh in Terminus
by Mark O’Rowe. Directed by Mark O’Rowe. Photograph
by Ros Kavanagh. Courtesy of the Abbey Theatre 138
10.1 Owen Roe (Petruchio) and Pauline McLynn (Katharina) in
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. Directed
by Lynne Parker. The Taming of the Shrew, programme
cover, © Rough Magic Theatre Company 166
10.2 Ailish Symons (Young Woman) in Drive-By by Tom Swift.
Directed by Jo Mangan. Performance Corporation.
Photograph by Colm Hogan. Courtesy of the Performance
Corporation and the photographer Colm Hogan 170
13.1 Pat Kinevane in Silent. Fishamble: The New Play Company.
Directed by Jim Culleton. Photograph by Ger Blanch.
Courtesy of Fishamble: The New Play Company 207
15.1 Kristin Scott Thomas, Alan Rickman, and Juliet Stevenson
(W1, M, W2) in Play by Samuel Beckett. Directed by
Anthony Minghella. Courtesy of Blue Angel Films 232
16.1 Stephen Rea (Hobart Struther) in Kicking a Dead Horse by
Sam Shepard. Directed by Sam Shepard. Photograph by
Ros Kavanagh. Courtesy of the Abbey Theatre 242
ix