The Politics of Irish Drama: Plays in Context from Boucicault to Friel (Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre)

In this book Nicholas Grene explores political contexts for some of the outstanding Irish plays from the nineteenth century to the contemporary period. The politics of Irish drama have previously been considered primarily the politics of national self-expression. Here it is argued that Irish plays, in their self-conscious representation of the otherness of Ireland, are outwardly directed towards audiences both at home and abroad. The political dynamics of such relations between plays and audiences is the book's multiple subject: the stage interpretation of Ireland from The Shaughraun to Translations; the contentious stage images of Yeats, Gregory and Synge; reactions to revolution from O'Casey to Behan; the post-colonial worlds of Purgatory and All that Fall; the imagined Irelands of Friel and Murphy, McGuinness and Barry. With its fundamental reconception of the politics of Irish drama, this book represents an alternative view of the phenomenon of Irish drama itself. Frontmatter Acknowledgements (page x) Chronology (page xi) List of abbreviations (page xvi) Introduction (page 1) 1 Stage interpreters (page 5) 2 Strangers in the house (page 51) 3 Shifts in perspective (page 77) 4 Class and space in O'Casey (page 110) 5 Reactions to revolution (page 136) 6 Living on (page 170) 7 Versions of pastoral (page 194) 8 Murphy's Ireland (page 219) 9 Imagining the other (page 242) Conclusion: a world elsewhere (page 261) Notes (page 269) Bibliography (page 290) Index (page 301)

The Politics of Irish Drama analyzes some twenty-five of the best-known Irish plays from those of Dion Boucicault to Sebastian Barry, including works by Shaw, Yeats, Lady Gregory and Beckett. The book looks at political contexts for these plays and, in arguing for the outward-directed nature of dramatic representation of Ireland, shows Irish drama to be an international as much as national phenomenon.

The Politics of Irish Drama analyses some twenty-five of the best-known Irish plays from Dion Boucicault to Sebastian Barry, including works of Shaw, Yeats, Lady Gregory and Beckett. The book looks at political contexts for these plays and shows Irish drama to be an international as much as national phenomenon Sebastian Barry -- Samuel Beckett -- Brendan Behan -- Dion Boucicault -- Brian Friel -- Lady Gregory -- Denis Johnston -- Frank Mcguinness -- Tom Murphy -- Sean O'casey -- Bernard Shaw -- J.m. Synge -- W.b. Yeats. Nicholas Grene. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 290-300) And Index. The author explores political contexts for some of the outstanding Irish plays from the 19th century to the contemporary period Authenticity and authority have been issues in Irish drama as far back as Boucicault, as far forward as Friel.