Fifty Key Irish Plays charts the progression of modern Irish drama from Dion Boucicault’s entry on to the global stage of the Irish diaspora to the contemporary dramas created by the experiences of the New Irish.
Each chapter provides a brief plot outline along with informed analysis and, alert to the cultural and critical context of each play, an account of the key roles that they played in the developing story of Irish drama. While the core of the collection is based on the critical canon, including work by J. M. Synge, Lady Gregory, Teresa Deevy, and Brian Friel, plays such as Tom Mac Intyre’s The Great Hunger and ANU Productions’ Laundry, which illuminate routes away from the mainstream, are also included. With a focus on the development of form as well as theme, the collection guides the reader to an informed overview of Irish theatre via succinct and insightful essays by an international team of academics.
This invaluable collection will be of particular interest to undergraduate students of theatre and performance studies and to lay readers looking to expand their appreciation of Irish drama.
1. The Shaughraun (1874) by Dion Boucicault
Scott Boltwood
2. The Importance of Being Earnest (1893) by Oscar Wilde
Ben Levitas
3. The Last Feast of the Fianna (1900) by Alice Milligan
Catherine Morris
4. Kathleen Ni Houlihan (1902) by Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats
Eglantina Remport
5. John Bull’s Other Island (1904) by Bernard Shaw
David Clare
6. The Gaol Gate (1906) by Lady Gregory
Eglantina Remport
7. The Playboy of the Western World (1907) by J. M. Synge
Hélène Lecossois
8. Harvest (1910) by Lennox Robinson
Shaun Richards
9. At the Hawk’s Well (1916) by W. B. Yeats
Michael McAteer
10. The Plough and the Stars (1926) by Sean O’Casey
James Moran
11. The Old Lady Says "No!", (1929) by Denis Johnston
Ruud van den Beuken
12. Youth’s the Season - ? (1931) by Mary Manning
Ruud van den Beuken
13. Katie Roche (1936) by Teresa Deevy
Chris Morash
14. Purgatory (1938) by W. B. Yeats
Chris Morash
15. An Apple a Day (1942) by Elizabeth Connor
Ian R. Walsh
16. Tolka Row (1951) by Maura Laverty
Deirdre McFeely
17. Home is the Hero (1952) by Walter Macken
Ian R. Walsh
18. The Wood of the Whispering (1953) by M. J. Molloy
Lisa Coen
19. Waiting for Godot (1953) by Samuel Beckett
James Little
20. The Hostage (1958) by Brendan Behan
Michael Pierse
21. Over the Bridge (1960) by Sam Thompson
Michael Parker
22. Stephen D (1962) by Hugh Leonard
Christopher Murray
23. The Field (1965) by John B. Keane
Lisa Coen
24. Famine (1968) by Tom Murphy
Hiroko Mikami
25. Translations (1980) by Brian Friel
Kelly Matthews
26. The Great Hunger (1983) by Tom Mac Intyre
Marie Kelly
27. Tea in a China Cup (1983) by Christina Reid
Lisa Fitzpatrick
28. Northern Star (1984) by Stewart Parker
Marilynn Richtarik
29. Bailegangaire (1985) by Tom Murphy
Csilla Bertha
30. Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (1985) by Frank McGuiness
David Cregan
31. Ourselves Alone (1985) by Anne Devlin
Lisa Fitzpatrick
32. Double Cross (1986) by Tom Kilroy
José Lanters
33. A Handful of Stars (1988) by Billy Roche
Victor Merriman
34. The Lament for Arthur Cleary (1989) by Dermot Bolger
Victor Merriman
35. Dancing at Lughnasa (1990) by Brian Friel
Joan Fitzpatrick Dean
36. Digging for Fire (1991) by Declan Hughes
Patrick Lonergan
37. Eclipsed (1992) by Patricia Burke Brogan
Charlotte Headrick
38. The Steward of Christendom (1995) by Sebastian Barry
Christina Hunt Mahony
39. The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996) by Martin McDonagh
Eamonn Jordan
40. The Weir (1997) by Conor McPherson
Clare Wallace
41. By the Bog of Cats (1998) by Marina Carr
Melissa Sihra
42. The Walworth Farce (2006) by Enda Walsh
Paige Reynolds
43. Terminus (2007) by Mark O’Rowe
Ondřej Pilný
44. The Playboy of the Western World (2007) by Bisi Adigun and Roddy Doyle
Patrick Lonergan
45. I (Heart) Alice (Heart) I (2010) by Amy Conroy
J. Paul Halferty
46. No Escape (2010) by Mary Raftery
Luke Lamont
47. Laundry (2011) by ANU Productions
Miriam Haughton
48. Quietly (2012) by Owen McCafferty
Shaun Richards
49. Broken Promise Land (2013) by Mirjana Rendulic
Charlotte McIvor
50. Spinning (2014) by Deirdre Kinahan
Mária Kurdi
Biography
Shaun Richards is Emeritus Professor of Irish Studies at Staffordshire University. Publications include Mapping Irish Theatre: Theories of Space and Place (Cambridge University Press, 2013), co-authored with Chris Morash, and Contemporary Irish Documentary Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2020), co-edited with Beatriz Kopschitz Bastos.
"The canon of modern Irish plays ought to be as fluid and debatable as Ireland itself has been. This lively, stimulating and pleasantly surprising re-thinking of the repertoire cracks open the hard shell of assumptions to reveal the rich variousness of a dynamic and contrary tradition." Fintan O’Toole, The Irish Times, Ireland
