Irish Dramatic Revival 1899-1939

Anthony Roche is Professor in the School of English, Drama and Film at University College, Dublin, and has published widely on Irish drama and theatre from the late nineteenth century to the present. He is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Brian Friel (2006) and author of Contemporary Irish Drama (2009), Brian Friel: Theatre and Politics (2011) and Synge and the Making of Modern Irish Drama (2013).

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1 The Late Nineteenth CenturyDouglas HydeThe nineteenth century and Dion BoucicaultOscar Wilde and George Bernard ShawHenrik IbsenThe Irish Literary Theatre2 Yeats as Founder and Playwright‘The Irish Dramatic Movement’: Yeats and the theatreCathleen ni HoulihanOn Baile’s StrandDeirdreAt the Hawk’s WellThe Dreaming of the Bones3 The Impact of SyngeThe making of a playwrightRiders to the SeaThe Shadow of the GlenThe Well of the SaintsThe Playboy of the Western WorldConclusion 4 Shaw and the Revival: The Absent Presence The anti-Shaw prejudiceShaw’s direct encounter with the Irish Dramatic RevivalJohn Bull’s Other Island and the Abbey TheatreThe Shewing Up of Blanco Posnet: An Abbey Play? O’Flaherty, V.C. and the Irish in World War I5 Lady Gregory: Irish Woman PlaywrightThe emergence of a writerSpreading the News The Gaol GateThe Rising of the MoonThe Workhouse WardGrania 6 The Arrival of O’CaseyContemporary urban working-class dramaThe Shadow of a GunmanJuno and the Paycock The Plough and the StarsThe Silver Tassie 7 The Revival from O’Casey to the Death of Yeats (1928-39)Denis Johnston’s The Old Lady Says No! and the Arrival of the Gate TheatreThe second Lady of the Abbey: Teresa DeevyYeats’s Endgame8 Critical PerspectivesPerformance and Spectacle in (and out) of Modern Irish Theatre by Paige Reynolds The Years of Synge: the cultural debates by P.J. MathewsInterview: Ghosts and the Uncanny in Irish Theatre by Conor McPherson Conclusion: The LegacyChronologyNotesSelected BibliographyNotes on ContributorsIndex

What is new and welcome in this book is the inclusion of analyses of plays by playwrights often cast as marginal to the achievements of the Revival … The ghosts of the Irish Revival are expertly conjured and once again made vital.