The Politics of Irish Drama Plays in Context from Boucicault to Friel [Paperback]

The Politics of Irish Drama analyses some twenty-five of the best-known Irish plays from Dion Boucicault to Sebastian Barry.The Politics of Irish Drama analyses some twenty-five of the best-known Irish plays from Dion Boucicault to Sebastian Barry, including works of Shaw, Yeats, Lady Gregory and Beckett. The book looks at political contexts for these plays and, in arguing for the outward-directed nature of dramatic representation of Ireland, shows Irish drama to be an international as much as national phenomenon.The Politics of Irish Drama analyses some twenty-five of the best-known Irish plays from Dion Boucicault to Sebastian Barry, including works of Shaw, Yeats, Lady Gregory and Beckett. The book looks at political contexts for these plays and, in arguing for the outward-directed nature of dramatic representation of Ireland, shows Irish drama to be an international as much as national phenomenon.The Politics of Irish Drama analyzes some twenty-five of the best-known Irish plays from those of Dion Boucicault to Sebastian Barry, including works by Shaw, Yeats, Lady Gregory and Beckett. The book looks at political contexts for these plays and, in arguing for the outward-directed nature of dramatic representation of Ireland, shows Irish drama to be an international as much as national phenomenon.Acknowledgements; Chronology; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Stage interpreters; 2. Strangers in the house; 3. Shifts in perspective; 4. Class and space in O'Casey; 5. Reactions to revolution; 6. Living on; 7. Versions of pastoral; 8. Murphy's Ireland; 9. Imagining the other; Conclusion: a world elsewhere; Notes; Bibliography; Index. ...in addition to surrounding the works with new historical material, Grene's close readings are startlingly good, and the constellations of plays he creatively arranges shed new light on texts that have been studied time and time again. Paige Reynolds, James Joyce Literary Supplement ...excellent study of Irish drama. The BostolÓ