Synopses & Reviews
Globalization is transforming theatre everywhere. As writers seek new opportunities to produce their work internationally, audiences are seeing the world and the stage differently. This groundbreaking study, now available in paperback, explores these developments in the context of the transformation of Ireland since the early 1990s.
Review
Winner of the 2008 Theatre Book Prize, awarded by the Society for Theatre Research
"Deftly adapting Walter Benjamins The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Patrick Lonergan identifies commodification and branding as the determining agents in the creation and circulation of modern theatre and, blending textual analysis with globalisation theory, provides the paradigm for a new phase of Irish theatre criticism." -- Professor Shaun Richards, Staffordshire University
"Simply the best and most thought-provoking analysis weve had of a central tension in Irish theatre (and indeed in the wider Irish culture) over the last 15 years." -- Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times
"This is an intelligent book and one with a mission statement its a clarion call for Irish theatre makers to resist the global homogenisation of culture." -- Emilie Pine, Irish Theatre Magazine
Synopsis
Globalization is transforming theatre everywhere. As writers seek to exploit new opportunities to produce their work internationally, audiences are seeing the world - and the stage - differently. And, as national borders became more fluid, the barriers between economics and culture are also becoming weaker. In this groundbreaking study, now available in paperback, Patrick Lonergan explores these developments, placing them in the context of the transformation of Ireland - the 'most globalized country in the world' - since the early 1990s. Drawing on archival material that has never before been published, this study sheds new light on the culture of Celtic Tiger Ireland, focusing on such writers as Brian Friel, Sean O'Casey, Marie Jones, Martin McDonagh, Marina Carr and Conor McPherson. In doing so, it shows how globalization poses difficult questions for authors and audiences - and reveals how we can begin to come to terms with these new developments.
Synopsis
Globalization is transforming theatre everywhere. As writers seek to exploit new opportunities to produce their work internationally, audiences are seeing the world and the stage differently. This groundbreaking study explores these developments, placing them in the context of the transformation of Ireland since the early 1990s.
About the Author
PATRICK LONERGAN teaches in the English Department at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has published widely on Irish literature and theatre, and is academic director of the Synge Summer School.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Globalization and Irish Theatre
Globalizing Irish Drama: Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa, 1990/1999
Globalizing National Theatres: Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars, 1926/1991/2002
Historicizing the Brand: Dion Boucicault's The Shaughraun, 1874/2004
Globalization and Authorship: Martin McDonagh, 1996-2005
Globalization and Cultural Exchange: Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Dublin, 1995
Globalizing Gender
Race and the Brand: Irish Theatre in 2005
Conclusion: Our Global Theatre
Works Cited
Index