Contemporary Irish Drama and Cultural Identity , livre ebook

Intellect Books Ltd - Margaret Llewellyn-Jones

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154 pages

English

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Within the last ten years there has been a renaissance in Irish drama from both sides of the border, including award-winning work which has transfered to London and New York, and has toured Britain as well as Europe and Australia. This book explores the dynamics of the relationship between these representations of Ireland and the fluid nature of cultural identity, especially during a period of economic and political change. Although the book establishes the historical context for contemporary Irish drama, and does include discussion of some of the earlier works of Brian Friel, Frank MacGuinness and Tom Murphy, the emphasis lies on their more recent work from 1980, and especially upon work created by new writers performed during the 1990's, during the emergence of the 'Celtic tiger economy' in the Republic, and the Peace Process in the North. Key themes provide the structure of the book, which examines especially those theatrical strategies which have been associated with the performance of identity, particularly in a post-colonial situation. References are also made to interviews with writers, performers, directors and groups, as well as performances seen across Ireland and Britain. Contemporary critical perspectives from post-colonial theory to psychoanalysis and performance praxis are deployed, but in an accessible way. In contrast to the tensions associated with the colonising relationship between Ireland and Britain, the relationship between Ireland and Europe are considered in terms of cultural and economic influences and performance practices, and that between Ireland and America in terms of the 'dream of the West', the diaspora and tourism.

Sujets

Earth Sciences

Literary Criticism

Performing Arts

Theatre

Earth science

Geography

General officer

Cultural studies

Physics

General

European

Informations

Publié par	Intellect Books Ltd
Date de parution	01 juillet 2002
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781841508245
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1600€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Contemporary Irish Drama & Cultural Identity
Margaret Llewellyn Jones
First Published in Great Britain in Paperback in 2002 by Intellect Books , PO Box 862, Bristol BS99 1DE, UK
Published in Paperback in USA in 2002 by Intellect Ltd , ISBS, 5824 N.E. Hassalo St, Portland, Oregon 97213-3644, USA
Copyright 2002 Intellect
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
Copy Editor: Lisa Morris Typesetting: Macstyle Ltd , Scarborough, N. Yorkshire
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Electronic ISBN 1-84150-824-1 / ISBN 1-84150-054-2
Dedication
In memory of my inspirational parents, Reg and Phyllis Scourse, and in celebration of their great-grandchildren.
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements 1 Introduction: Staging Ireland 2 Language and the Colonised Body 3 Politics, Memory and the Fractured Form 4 Madonna, Magdalen and Matriarch 5 Myth and Masculinity 6 Dreams & Diaspora: Exported Images and Multiple Identities 7 Conclusion: From Hearth to Heterotopia
Bibliography
Time Line
Index
Acknowledgements
In grateful appreciation of the following who gave interviews and information: Barabbas, Sebastian Barry, Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy, Marina Carr, Darragh Carville, Anna Cutler, Seamus Deane, Dock Ward, Druid (Administration), Judy Friel (Abbey), Declan Gibbons (Macnas), David Grant (Lyric, Belfast), Pan Pan, Paul Mercier (Passion Machine), Paula McFetridge (Tinderbox), Lynne Parker (Rough Magic), Ridiculusmus, Karl Wallace (Kabosh), my son Edwyn Wilson (then Production Manager, Royal Court).
The Faculty Research Committee (Humanities and Education) and the Irish Studies Centre, both at the University of North London, provided welcome academic support, while my husband, actor Ray Llewellyn gave invaluable encouragement and Offstage Bookshop, London, obtained most playtexts.
1 Introduction: Staging Ireland
The English did not invade Ireland - rather they seized a nearby island and invented the idea of Ireland. The notion Ireland is largely a fiction created by the rulers of England in response to specific needs at a precise moment in British history.
Declan Kiberd s comment (1984, p. 5) reveals the crucial role that drama has played in the re-invention of Ireland. It challenges and subverts this British fiction through its exploration of cultural identity within theatrical space. Within the last ten years, especially, there has been a renaissance in Irish drama from both sides of the Border, including award-winning work that has transferred to London and New York, touring to Britain as well as Europe and Australia. As further discussed in this chapter, recent studies of postcolonial drama have tended to marginalise Ireland, while exploring non-European cultures. Strategies which have been associated with post-colonial theory and theatre practices; first theories of race, second varieties of feminism concerned with the representation of the gendered body, third roles of body, the voice, and the stage space as sites of resistance , and fourth varied use of cultural practices such as ritual and carnival (Gilbert & Tompkins 1996, p. 12) are present in much recent Irish drama. Intensified by the issue of language and its relation to power, these elements are all intrinsic to questions of Irish identity, representation and culture, and can be traced back to the link between the Literary Revival and the foundation of the Irish National Theatre. This book explores the dynamics of the relationship between these representations of Ireland and the fluid nature of cultural identity within a post-colonial context, especially during a period of economic and political change.
Unlike studies of Irish drama which have devoted chapters to individual writers, this book uses a thematic structure to reveal and analyse ways in which certain ideological concerns and dramatic strategies re-occur across a range of plays, in particular those features which may be linked to the post-colonial context. Although the book will provide a historical context for contemporary Irish drama, in order to establish these key themes it also includes discussion of some earlier works of the now canonical figures Brian Friel, Frank McGuinness and Tom Murphy, especially their more recent works from 1980 including some revived material. Well-documented writers from earlier periods, such as G. B. Shaw, Denis Johnston, Brendan Behan, and Samuel Beckett, are not explored here, since this book is a selective study which draws together more recent writers whose work has yet to receive wide critical attention within this particular context. The main emphasis lies upon works created by new writers performed during the 1990s and as they happen up to date, during the emergence of the Celtic Tiger Economy in the Republic, and the continuing, if bumpy, Peace Process in the North. Selective reference is made to interviews with writers, performers, directors and groups, as well as performances seen in Dublin, Belfast, Galway and Britain, in main houses, fringe and community venues, since physicality of performance is central to the approach to these readings which are informed by aspects of post-colonial theory and perspectives on performance praxis, including feminism and psychoanalysis. Where references are made to plays encountered only as texts performative potential has been considered. Attention is paid not only to tensions associated with the colonising relationship between Britain and Ireland, but to the relationship between Ireland and Europe in terms of cultural and economic influences as well as performance practices, and that between Ireland and America in terms of the Dream of the West , the diaspora and tourism. Some allusions are also made to TV and film representations of Ireland and the Irish.
This Introductory chapter first provides a brief over-view of the historical and political condition of Ireland, second, a concise framework for the development of Irish drama through the Irish National Theatre and its relationship with issues of cultural identity. Third, with reference to the Irish context, it will comment in more detail on some key qualities and dramatic strategies that have been claimed to be typical of postcolonial writing and performance in general. Particular theoretical terms, key issues and themes that run through the book but also underpin its structure will be introduced. Finally, these aspects will be linked with the ways in which the especial use of realism in Irish drama is extended or breached, thus foregrounding the book s main case about the ideological significance of these representations for creating new and fluid cultural identities.
First then, a Time Line at the end of this book selectively indicates key moments both in Ireland s political history and theatre as a frame for reference, providing evidence of the colonial relationship with Britain. Whilst full justice to such a complex situation cannot be achieved diagrammatically, the Line does at least position theatrical events in context. It suggests how from the twelfth century England extended political and economic power over Ireland, particularly through the Tudor plantation policy, which gave Irish estates to English gentlemen, thus eventually creating an Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy ruling class. The Catholicism of the indigenous population provided further motivation for a series of Irish rebellions and excessively brutal English reprisals. Contemporary tensions between sectarian groups, deepened by immigration of Scots Presbyterians into the North, have seventeenth century roots, including Cromwellian massacres and the Battle of the Boyne. Social and economic repression was worsened by the application of the English Poor Law in 1838, and is most evident in the Great Famine period from 1845 to 1859, which depleted the population through death and mass emigration. It took over a hundred years from the Act of Union in 1800 for the English government to pass - but put on hold - a Home Rule Bill for Ireland. Following the Easter Rising of 1916, and the War of Independence, the Irish Free State was established in 1922, leaving the six predominantly Protestant counties of Northern Ireland as part of Britain. De Valera s constitutional claim to the more industrialised North in 1937 did not improve this problematic situation, which was exacerbated by the continuing of economic, social and political disadvantaging of the Catholic minority in Ulster.
Northern Ireland is still undergoing the last throes resulting from this colonial period, which were intensified by the decline of the crucial ship-building industry. A British province since 1921, it was virtually self-governing until 1972, despite economic difficulties rooted in inequalities linked to sectarian differences, which escalated from the mid-1960s. Direct Rule from London was reimposed after the fatalities of Bloody Sunday 1972 when British troops fired on unarmed civilian demonstrators. This period, the Troubles , was marked by Hunger Strikes, atrocities and reprisals from both sides of the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland, and included serious incidents on the English mainland. Agreements at Sunningdale (1973) and Hillsborough (1985) were attempts to find solutions such as a Power-Sharing Executive. On 10thApril 1998 the signing of the Anglo-Irish Good Friday Agreement involving London, Dublin and Belfast, later supported by a referendum (May), granted Northern Ireland an Assembly and Cabinet at Stormont. Certain legislative powers were devolved from December 1999 (http://www.ni-assembly.gov.uk/about.htm). Amending Articles 2 & 3 of the Irish Constitution also relinquished the Republic s claim on Ulster (1999). Within an improving Northern economy, the Peace Process nego