Modern Irish Theatre

Acknowledgements vii

Timeline of Signifi cant Events in Irish Arts and Politics ix

Introduction 1

Part I: Performing the Nation, 1891-1916 5

Introduction to Part I 7

1 Imagining an Aesthetic: Modern Irish Theatre’s First Years 13

2 Realisms and Regionalisms 35

Part II: War and After, 1916-1948 61

Introduction to Part II 63

3 The Abbey Becomes Institution: 1916-1929 67

4 New Voices of the 1930s and 1940s 91

Part III: Rewriting Tradition, 1948-1980 113

Introduction to Part III 115

5 Irish Theatre in the 1950s 119

6 Irish Theatre's Second Wave 136

Part IV: Re-imagining Ireland, 1980-2007 151

Introduction to Part IV 153

7 Theatres Without Borders: Irish Theatre in the 1980s 157

8 A New Sense of Place: Irish Theatre since the 1990s 176

Conclusion: What is an Irish Play? 195

Notes 199

Bibliography 210

Index 224