The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre

Edited by Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash

Oxford Handbooks

Forty-one chapters written by a team of leading international scholars
Generously illustrated to provide a strong visual dimension
Makes extensive use of a wide range of newly available archival sources
Offers a broad focus, with some chapters focussing on plays, others on performance or on context
Provides an extensive chronology and bibliography

The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre

Edited by Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash

Description

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

Edited by Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash

Oxford Handbooks

Introduction, Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash
Part I: Nineteenth-Century Legacies
1:The Inheritance of Melodrama, Stephen Watt
2:Oscar Wilde: International Politics and the Drama of Sacrifice, Michael McAteer
Part II: Theatre and Nation
3:The Abbey and the Idea of a Theatre, Ben Levitas
4:Theatre and Activism 1900-1916, P.J. Mathews
5:W.B. Yeats and Rituals of Performance, Terence Brown
6:The Riot of Spring: Synge's 'Failed Realism' and the Peasant Drama, Mary Burke
Part III: Models and Influences
7:'We Were Very Young and We Shrank From Nothing': Realism and Early Twentieth-Century Irish Drama., Shaun Richards
8:Modernism and Irish Theatre 1900-1940, Richard Cave
9:Missing Links: Bernard Shaw, the Discussion Play, and Modern Irish Theatre, Brad Kent
Part IV: Revolution and Beyond
10:Imagining the Rising, Nicholas Allen
11:The Abbey Theatre and the Irish State, Lauren Arrington
12:O'Casey and the City, Christopher Murray
Part V: Performance 1
13:Design and Direction To 1960, Paige Reynolds
14:The Importance of Staging Oscar: Wilde At the Gate, Eibhear Walshe
15:Irish Acting in the Early 20th Century, Adrian Frazier
Part VI: Contesting Voices
16:Twisting in the Wind: Irish-Language Stage Theatre 1884-2014, Brian Ó Conchubhair
17:Women and Irish Theatre Before 1960, Cathy Leeney
18:The Little Theatres of the 1950s, Lionel Pilkington
Part VII: The New Revival
19:Urban and Rural Theatre Cultures: M.J. Molloy, John B. Keane, and Hugh Leonard, Lisa Coen
20:Brian Friel and Tom Murphy: Forms of Exile, Anthony Roche
21:Thomas Kilroy and the Idea of a Theatre, José Lanters
Part VIII: Diversification
22:Brian Friel and Field Day, Marilynn Richtarik
23:From Troubles To Post-Conflict Theatre in Northern Ireland, Mark Phelan
24:'As We Must': Growth and Diversification in Ireland's Theatre Culture 1977-2000., Victor Merriman
25:From Druid/Murphy To DruidMurphy, Shelley Troupe
Part IX: Performance 2
26:Places of Performance, Chris Morash
27:Directors and Designers Since 1960, Ian R. Walsh
28:Defining Performers and Performances, Nicholas Grene
29:Beckett At the Gate, Julie Bates
Part X: Contemporary Irish Theatre
30:Negotiating Differences in the Plays of Frank McGuinness, Helen Heusner Lojek
31:Drama Since the 1990s: Memory, Story, Exile, Emilie Pine
32:Irish Drama Since the 1990s: Disruptions, Clare Wallace
33:Shadow and Substance: Women, Feminism and Irish Theatre After 1980, Melissa Sihra
34: Irish Theatre Devized, Brian Singleton
Part XI: Ireland and the World
35:Global Beckett, Ronan McDonald
36:Irish Theatre and the United States, John P. Harrington
37:Irish Theatre in Britain, James Moran
38:Irish Theatre in Europe, Ondřej Pilný
39:'Feast and Celebration': The Theatre Festival and Modern Irish Theatre, Patrick Lonergan
40:Re-inscribing the Classics, Ancient and Modern: The Sharp Diagonal of Adaptation, Christina Hunt Mahony
Part XII: Critical Responses
41:Irish Theatre and Historiography, Eamonn Jordan

The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre

Edited by Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash

Oxford Handbooks

Author Information

Edited by Nicholas Grene, Professor of English Literature, Trinity College Dublin, and Chris Morash, Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing, Trinity College Dublin

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.

Contributors:

Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash
Stephen Watt
Michael McAteer
Ben Levitas
P.J. Mathews
Terence Brown
Mary Burke
Shaun Richards
Richard Cave
Brad Kent
Nicholas Allen
Lauren Arrington
Christopher Murray
Paige Reynolds
Eibhear Walshe
Adrian Frazier
Brian Ó Conchubhair
Cathy Leeney
Lionel Pilkington
Lisa Coen
Anthony Roche
José Lanters
Marilynn Richtarik
Mark Phelan
Victor Merriman
Shelley Troupe
Chris Morash
Ian R. Walsh
Nicholas Grene
Julie Bates
Helen Heusner Lojek
Emilie Pine
Clare Wallace
Melissa Sihra
Brian Singleton
Ronan McDonald
John P. Harrington
James Moran
Ondřej Pilný
Patrick Lonergan
Christina Hunt Mahony
Eamonn Jordan

The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre

Edited by Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash

Oxford Handbooks

Reviews and Awards

"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