703. Performing the Nation in Irish Drama and Films
Time: (Tuesday afternoons, 4 hours each, and 4 Saturday afternoons after the semester begins. 54 hours in total.)
Course Description:
This course aims to explore the relationship between theatre and national identity in Ireland from the early twentieth century to the present day, tracing the history and development of Irish theatre where tradition and experiment never cease to contradict, not necessarily counteract, each other. We will first study works by canonic Irish playwrights, examining the different versions of “Ireland”
offered/commissioned by the Abbey and the Gate theatres, and considering the places of
contemporary theatre groups, such as Field Day, Charabanc, Glasshouse and Druid in modern Irish culture. This course will evaluate competing myths and ideologies of pre- and post-partition Ireland, and explore how contemporary dramatists of both genders refuse to be accommodated by, or attempt to revise them, according to their own critical observations. To open up a diversity of historical, political, critical, and historiographical terrains, this course will examine an assortment of topics, such as partition and the Northern Ireland “troubles,” ethnicity, class, sexuality, production, and performance. The choices of texts will not be limited to plays but Irish films which invite a wider audience to co-build Irishness in a global context. It is expected that, by delving into these relevant topics, students will expand their understanding of Irish theatre from the traditional focus upon nation-formation and national identity with insight into the existing theatrical/literary canon of this “Celtic Tiger.”
Tentative Schedule: Tuesday afternoons, 4 hours each, and 4 Saturday afternoons after the semester begins. 54 hours in total.
Prerequisites for BA students:
1. Senior and Junior students.
2. Suitable for those highly-motivated, and/or top 15% in literature scores in a recent transcript.
3. Strong commitment to 70 pages of reading per week or more (as in Norton Anthology).
Textbooks:
1) Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama. Ed. John P. Harrington. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009. (To be purchased.)
2) Handouts
Tentative Schedule:
6/21: 1) Introduction to (Anglo-) Irish literature and culture; 2) The Last September (film)
6/28: 1) W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory: Cathleen Ni Houlihan; 2) W.B Yeats: Purgatory; 3) Lady Gregory: Spreading the News & The Rising of the Moon
7/5: 1) J. M. Synge: Riders to the Sea & The Aran Islands (film clips); 2) J.M. Synge: Playboy of the Western World (script & film clips)
7/12: 1) Sean O’Casey: Juno and the Paycock & The Shadow of a Gunman 7/19: 1) Samuel Beckett: Krapp’s Last Tape & Waiting for Godot
7/26: 1) Brian Friel: Translations & Dancing at Lughnasa (flim) 8/2: 1) Tom Murphy: A Whistle in the Dark; 2) In America (film)
0
8/9: 1) Sebastian Barry: The Steward of Christendom; 2) Five Minutes of Heaven (film) 8/16: 1) Anne Devlin: After Easter & Titanic Town (film)
9/18: 1) Christina Reid: The Belle of the Belfast City; 2) The Nephew (film)
9/25: 1) Conor McPherson: The Weir; 2) Jimmy Murphy: The Kings of the Kilburn High Road 10/2: 1) Martin McDonagh: The Beauty Queen of Leenane; 2) Jim O’Hanlon: The Buddhist of Castleknock
10/9: Individual Interviews with the instructor
1
2
