The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre provides the single most comprehensive survey of the field to be found in a single volume. Drawing on more than forty contributors from around the world, the book addresses a full range of topics relating to modern Irish theatre from the late nineteenth-century theatre to the most recent works of postdramatic devised theatre. Ireland has long had an importance in the world of theatre out of all proportion to the
size of the country, and has been home to four Nobel Laureates (Yeats, Shaw, and Beckett; Seamus Heaney, while primarily a poet, also wrote for the stage). This collection begins with the influence of
melodrama, looks at arguably the first modern Irish playwright, Oscar Wilde, before moving into a series of considerations of the Abbey Theatre, and Irish modernism. Arranged chronologically, it explores areas such as women in theatre, Irish-language theatre, and alternative theatres, before reaching the major writers of more recent Irish theatre, including Brian Friel and Tom Murphy, and their successors. There are also individual chapters focusing on Beckett and Shaw, as well as a series of
chapters looking at design, acting and theatre architecture. The book concludes with an extended survey of the critical literature on the field. In each chapter, the author does not simply
rehearse accepted wisdom; all of the authors push the boundaries of their respective fields, so that each chapter is a significant contribution to scholarship in its own right.
The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre provides the single most comprehensive survey of the field to be found in a single volume. Drawing on more than forty contributors from around the world, the book addresses a full range of topics relating to modern Irish theatre from the late nineteenth-century theatre to the most recent works of postdramatic devised theatre. Ireland has long had an importance in the world of theatre out of all proportion to the
size of the country, and has been home to four Nobel Laureates (Yeats, Shaw, and Beckett; Seamus Heaney, while primarily a poet, also wrote for the stage). This collection begins with the influence of
melodrama, looks at arguably the first modern Irish playwright, Oscar Wilde, before moving into a series of considerations of the Abbey Theatre, and Irish modernism. Arranged chronologically, it explores areas such as women in theatre, Irish-language theatre, and alternative theatres, before reaching the major writers of more recent Irish theatre, including Brian Friel and Tom Murphy, and their successors. There are also individual chapters focusing on Beckett and Shaw, as well as a series of
chapters looking at design, acting and theatre architecture. The book concludes with an extended survey of the critical literature on the field. In each chapter, the author does not simply
rehearse accepted wisdom; all of the authors push the boundaries of their respective fields, so that each chapter is a significant contribution to scholarship in its own right.
Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash: Introduction
Part I: Nineteenth-Century Legacies
1: Stephen Watt: The Inheritance of Melodrama
2: Michael McAteer: Oscar Wilde: International Politics and the
Drama of Sacrifice
Part II: Theatre and Nation
3: Ben Levitas: The Abbey and the Idea of a Theatre
4: P.J. Mathews: Theatre and Activism 1900-1916
5: Terence Brown: W.B. Yeats and Rituals of Performance
6: Mary Burke: The Riot of Spring: Synge's 'Failed Realism' and the
Peasant Drama
Part III: Models and Influences
7: Shaun Richards: 'We Were Very Young and We Shrank From Nothing':
Realism and Early Twentieth-Century Irish Drama.
8: Richard Cave: Modernism and Irish Theatre 1900-1940
9: Brad Kent: Missing Links: Bernard Shaw, the Discussion Play, and
Modern Irish Theatre
Part IV: Revolution and Beyond
10: Nicholas Allen: Imagining the Rising
11: Lauren Arrington: The Abbey Theatre and the Irish State
12: Christopher Murray: O'Casey and the City
Part V: Performance 1
13: Paige Reynolds: Design and Direction To 1960
14: Eibhear Walshe: The Importance of Staging Oscar: Wilde At the
Gate
15: Adrian Frazier: Irish Acting in the Early 20th Century
Part VI: Contesting Voices
16: Brian Ó Conchubhair: Twisting in the Wind: Irish-Language Stage
Theatre 1884-2014
17: Cathy Leeney: Women and Irish Theatre Before 1960
18: Lionel Pilkington: The Little Theatres of the 1950s
Part VII: The New Revival
19: Lisa Coen: Urban and Rural Theatre Cultures: M.J. Molloy, John
B. Keane, and Hugh Leonard
20: Anthony Roche: Brian Friel and Tom Murphy: Forms of Exile
21: José Lanters: Thomas Kilroy and the Idea of a Theatre
Part VIII: Diversification
22: Marilynn Richtarik: Brian Friel and Field Day
23: Mark Phelan: From Troubles To Post-Conflict Theatre in Northern
Ireland
24: Victor Merriman: 'As We Must': Growth and Diversification in
Ireland's Theatre Culture 1977-2000.
25: Shelley Troupe: From Druid/Murphy To DruidMurphy
Part IX: Performance 2
26: Chris Morash: Places of Performance
27: Ian R. Walsh: Directors and Designers Since 1960
28: Nicholas Grene: Defining Performers and Performances
29: Julie Bates: Beckett At the Gate
Part X: Contemporary Irish Theatre
30: Helen Heusner Lojek: Negotiating Differences in the Plays of
Frank McGuinness
31: Emilie Pine: Drama Since the 1990s: Memory, Story, Exile
32: Clare Wallace: Irish Drama Since the 1990s: Disruptions
33: Melissa Sihra: Shadow and Substance: Women, Feminism and Irish
Theatre After 1980
34: Brian Singleton: Irish Theatre Devized
Part XI: Ireland and the World
35: Ronan McDonald: Global Beckett
36: John P. Harrington: Irish Theatre and the United States
37: James Moran: Irish Theatre in Britain
38: Ond%rej Pilný: Irish Theatre in Europe
39: Patrick Lonergan: 'Feast and Celebration': The Theatre Festival
and Modern Irish Theatre
40: Christina Hunt Mahony: Re-inscribing the Classics, Ancient and
Modern: The Sharp Diagonal of Adaptation
Part XII: Critical Responses
41: Eamonn Jordan: Irish Theatre and Historiography
Nicholas Grene is Professor of English in Trinity College, Dublin.
He has published extensively on a range of topics, including Irish
theatre, Shakespeare, Yeats, Shaw and Indian literature in English.
His impact on Irish theatre research extends back to Synge: A
Critical Study of the Plays (1975); his study of modern Irish
theatre, The Politics of Irish Drama (1999) has been highly
influential, and his most recent book is Home on the
Stage (2014). He is a founding director of both the Synge Summer
School and the Irish Theatre Diaspora Project. He is a Member of
the Royal Irish Academy.
Chris Morash is Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing in Trinity
College, Dublin; he was previously Professor of English in Maynooth
University. Born in Canada, he has published widely on Irish
literature and cultural history, including Writing the Irish Famine
(1996), A History of Irish Theatre 1601-2000 (2002), A History of
the Media in Ireland (2009), and Mapping Irish Theatre (with Shaun
Richards, 2013). His History of Irish Theatre won
the Theatre Book Prize in 2003, and is widely regarded as the
standard history in the field. He is a Member of the Royal Irish
Academy.
Chris Morash and Nicholas Grene have made an immeasurable
contribution to academic writing on theatre in general and
contemporary Irish theatre in particular. They have produced many
of the core text books on the subject, including The Oxford
Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre.'
*Nomination for the Judges' Special Award, in the Irish Times'
Irish Theatre Awards (2018)*
It is an essential work for academics, students and members of the
theatrical profession Thinking outside the box and representing a
wider European influence on Irish drama Every chapter has extensive
footnotes with references to books, journals, newspapers and online
source material. The indexers have done an excellent job with their
comprehensive index.
*Mary Casteleyn, Vice President, Irish Genealogical Research
Society*
The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre ... reads engagingly
when consumed straight through. ... readers who make their way
through it will find themselves well-oriented as to the outlines of
and debates surrounding Irish dramatic production and consumption
of the past 125 years. Indeed, with its critical depth and range,
generous collection of photographs, useful chronology, and
exhaustive bibliography of more than 700 source texts on Irish
theatre, this volume is required reading for anyone with a serious
interest in the subject.
*Brian W. Shaffer, English Literature in Transition 1880-1920*
covers an enormous amount of theatrical territory ... [which]
should enrich our understanding and appreciation of the subject.
Theatre in Ireland is well served by this imposing volume.
*Patricia Craig, Times Literary Supplement*
The book as a whole is a wonderful achievement. It is always
readable and jargon-free, illustrated with photographs, designs and
posters that are often fresh to the eye and edited with a judicious
balance between overall coherence and individual style ... It is a
tribute to modern Irish threatre.
*Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times*
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