Drama : English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh

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. more...

Price: $39.95

Gender and Modern Irish Drama argues that the representations of sacrificial violence center to the work of the Abbey playwrights are intimately linked with constructions of gender and sexuality. Harris goes beyond an examination of the relationship between Irish national drama and Irish nationalist politics to the larger question of the way national identity and gender identity are constructed through each other. This book is both a crucial intervention in Irish studies and an important contribution to the ongoing feminist project of theorizing the production of gender and the body. more...

Price: $33.55

The Gateway Theatre Company between 1953 and 1965 was a major force in developing modern Scottish theatre, moving in 1965 to become the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company. The Gateway Theatre and its company were therefore highly influential in the development of theatre in Scotland. They encouraged new writing and young performers to establish a vibrant contemporary tradition of Scottish theatre in a manner complementary to, and at times more important than, that of its sister theatre, the Citizens in Glasgow. Both theatre building and company are regarded with enormous affection and J35respect. This book provides authoritative brief histories of the building and the company incorporating much original research, an essay on the links between the theatre and the Church of Scotland (its landlord post second world war), and appreciations of two leading figures in the operation of the theatre and the company. These are Sadie Aitken, 'the Caledonian Lilian Bayliss' (a theatrical legend), and Robert Kemp (playwright and a key figure in post war theatre). more...

Price: $19.95

Looks at the critical reception to this Jacobean playwright from the early 17th to the late 19th century. Includes extensive selections from Pepys, Goldsmith, Coleridge, Hazlitt, Lamb and Swinburne, with briefer comments from Scott, Byron and Keats. more...

Price: $175.00

Marion Thain recounts the development of this fascinating poetic persona, created by two female writers. more...

Price: $76.00