The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre

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 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, and 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 contributors push the boundaries of their respective fields, so that each chapter is a significant contribution to scholarship in its own right.

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

Nicholas Grene is Emeritus Professor of English at 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 at 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.

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 and the Discussion Play, 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 Twentieth Century, Adrian Frazier
Part VI: Contesting Voices
16. Twisting in the Wind: Irish-Language Stage Theatre 1884-2014, Brian O 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, Jose 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 Devised, Brian Singleton
Part XI: Ireland and the World
35. Global Beckett, Rónán McDonald
36. Irish Theatre and the United States, John P. Harrington
37. Irish Theatre in Britain, James Moran
38. Irish Theatre in Europe, Ond%rej Pilný
39. 'Feast and Celebration': The Theatre Festival and Modern Irish Theatre, Patrick Lonergan
40. Reinscribing the Classics, Ancient and Modern: The Sharp Diagonal of Adaptation, Christina Hunt Mahony
Part XII: Critical Responses
41. Irish Theatre and Historiography, Eamonn Jordan