Women in Irish Drama: A Century of Authorship and Representation (Performance Interventions)

Featuring original essays by leading scholars in the field, this book explores the immense legacy of women playwrights in Irish theatre since the beginning of theTwentieth century. Chapters consider the intersecting contexts of gender, sexuality and the body in order to investigate the broader cultural, political and historical implications of representing 'woman' on the stage. In addition, a number of essays engage with representations of women by a selection of male playwrights in order to re-evaluate familiar contexts and traditions in Irish drama. Features a Foreword by Marina Carr and a useful appendix of Irish women playwrights and their works. This Volume Of Essays Explores The Fascinating And Immensely Rich Legacy Of Irish Women Playwrights Throughout The Twentieth Century And Opens Up Essential Dialogue On The Politics Of Authorship, Representation And The 'canon' Of Irish Theatre. Ideological, Historical And Cultural Issues Are Discussed In Relation To The Performance Of Woman, Gender, Sexuality And The Body On The Irish Stage In Plays By Women And, To A Lesser Extent, By Men. An Appendix Lists Over Two Hundred Irish Women Playwrights And Their Works, Contesting The Traditional Concept Of Irish Theatre As Primarily A Site Of Male Authorship And Authority. In This Book Unknown Territories Are Discovered And Familiar Ones Are Renegotiated, As The Histories Of Irish Theatre Are Expanded, Challenged And Critiqued. Women In Irish Drama Opens A Space For Previously Forgotten Or Silenced Voices And Marks An Exciting New Beginning For The Way In Which Irish Theatre Is Considered In The Twenty-first Century. Introduction: Figures At The Window / Melissa Sihra -- Woman As Fantasy Object In Lady Gregory's Historical Tragedies / Paul Murphy -- Writing Women For A Modern Ireland: Geraldine Cummins And Susanne Day / Velma O'donoghue Greene -- The Space Outside: Images Of Women In Plays By Eva Gore-booth And Dorothy Macardle / Cathy Leeney -- Taking Their Own Road: The Female Protagonists In Three Irish Plays By Women / Lisa Fitzpatrick -- From Matron To Matrix: Gender, Authority And (dis)embodiment In Beckett's Theatre / Anna Mcmullan -- Beyond The Pale: Neglected Northern Irish Women Playwrights, Alice Milligan, Helen Waddell And Patricia O'connor / Mark Phelan -- Meta-physicality: Women Characters In The Plays Of Frank Mcguinness / Eamonn Jordan -- Dead Women Walking: The Female Body As A Site For War In Stewart Parker's Northern Star / Rachel O'riordan -- Women In Rooms: Landscapes Of The Missing In Anne Devlin's Ourselves Alone / Enrica Cerquoni -- Staging The Liminal In Éilís Ní Dhuibhne's Dún Na Mban Trí Thine (the Fort Of The Fairy Women Is On Fire) / Anthony Roche -- Sick, Dying, Dead, Dispersed: The Evanescence Of Patriarchy In Contemporary Irish Women's Theatre / Brian Singleton -- The House Of Woman And The Plays Of Marina Carr / Melissa Sihra -- Afterword: The Act And The Word / Olwen Fouéré. Edited By Melissa Sihra ; Foreword By Marina Carr. A Collection Of Essays About Irish Women Playwrights. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Front Matter....Pages i-xix Introduction: Figures at the Window....Pages 1-22 Front Matter....Pages 23-27 Woman as Fantasy Object in Lady Gregory’s Historical Tragedies....Pages 28-41 Writing Women for a Modern Ireland: Geraldine Cummins and Susanne Day....Pages 42-54 The Space Outside: Images of Women in Plays by Eva Gore-Booth and Dorothy Macardle....Pages 55-68 Taking their Own Road: The Female Protagonists in Three Irish Plays by Women....Pages 69-86 Front Matter....Pages 87-96 From Matron to Matrix: Gender, Authority and (Dis)embodiment in Beckett’s Theatre....Pages 97-108 Beyond the Pale: Neglected Northern Irish Women Playwrights, Alice Milligan, Helen Waddell and Patricia O’Connor....Pages 109-129 Meta-Physicality: Women Characters in the Plays of Frank McGuinness....Pages 130-143 Dead Women Walking: The Female Body as a Site for War in Stewart Parker’s Northern Star....Pages 144-150 Front Matter....Pages 151-159 Women in Rooms: Landscapes of the Missing in Anne Devlin’s Ourselves Alone....Pages 160-174 Staging the Liminal in Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s Dún na mBan Trí Thine (The Fort of the Fairy Women is On Fire)....Pages 175-185 Sick, Dying, Dead, Dispersed: The Evanescence of Patriarchy in Contemporary Irish Women’s Theatre....Pages 186-200 The House of Woman and the Plays of Marina Carr....Pages 201-218 Back Matter....Pages 219-241

Featuring original essays by leading scholars in the field, this bookexplores the immense legacy of women playwrights in Irish theatre since the beginning of the twentieth century. Chapters consider the intersecting contexts of gender, sexuality and the body in order to investigate the broader cultural, political and historical implications of representing 'woman' on the stage.In addition, a number of essays will engage with representations of women by a selection of male playwrights in order to re-evaluate familiar contexts and traditions in Irish drama. It features a foreword by Marina Carr and a useful appendix of Irish women playwrights and their works.

Assembling a remarkable group of scholars, these essays explore how the circulation and exchange of 'vectors of the radical' shape the avant-garde. Mapping the movement of scripts, theatre activists, performances, and other material entities, they provide unprecedented perspectives on the transnational performance culture of the avant-garde. This is the first book to explore the relationship between experimental theatre and performance making in France. Reflecting the recent return to aesthetics and politics in French theory, it focuses on how a variety of theatre and performance practitioners use their art work to contest reality as it is currently configured in France. This is a collection of essays by international scholars that addresses the global development of performance research in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The collection functions as a critical reader on diverse approaches to studying performance that contest dominant paradigms of performance studies Using examples of refugee arts and theatrical activity since the 1990s, this book examines how the 'refugee crisis' has conditioned all arts and cultural activity with refugees in a world where globalization and migration go hand in hand. 'Women in Irish drama' explores the legacy of women playwrights in Irish theatre since the start of the 20th century and engages with representations of women by a selection of male playwrights to re-evaluate familiar traditions