Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama: A Norton Critical Edition / Edition 2

by John P. Harrington

Overview

Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama is the ideal focal point for the study of Irish literature and culture and, because of its many great twentieth-century works, for the study of drama more generally.

This revised and expanded Norton Critical Edition reprints the complete texts of fourteen plays by the major Irish playwrights: W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, J. M. Synge, Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, Samuel Beckett, Brian Friel, Conor McPherson, and Marina Carr. The texts are accompanied by John Harrington’s introduction to the volume and by his detailed explanatory annotations.

“Backgrounds and Criticism” is chronologically organized by playwright and includes prefaces, letters, journal entries, program notes, and interpretative essays for each play in the volume. In order to provide additional context for readers, these materials are preceded by five essays on the early-twentieth-century “The Irish Dramatic Revival” and followed by four essays on the current state of “Theater in Ireland.”

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393932430
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	12/22/2008
Series:	Norton Critical Editions Series
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	672
Sales rank:	162,047
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

John P. Harrington is Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Fordham University. He is the author of The Life of the Neighborhood Playhouse on Grand Street, The Irish Play on the New York Stage, The Irish Beckett: Irish Contexts of Samuel Beckett’s Work, and The English Traveler in Ireland. He has published many articles on a wide range of topics in Irish literature.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

The Texts of the Plays W. B. Yeats Lady Gregory 1

Cathleen Ni Houlihan 3

The Pot of Broth W. B. Yeats 12

At the Hawk's Well 20

Purgatory Lady Gregory 29

Spreading the News 36

The Rising of the Moon J.M. Synge 50

Riders to the Sea 58

The Playboy of the Western World 68

John Bull's Other Island Bernard Shaw 113

Juno and the Paycock Sean O'Casey 197

Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett 247

Translations Brian Friel 255

The Weir Conor Mcpherson 309

By the Bog of Cats Marina Carr 352

Backgrounds and Criticism 399

The Irish Dramatic Revival 401

Our Irish Theatre Lady Gregory 401

What Should Be the Subjects of National Drama? John Eglinton 410

An Irish National Theatre W. B. Yeats 412

An Irish National Theatre Frank J. Fay 415

[The Collaborations of Yeats and Lady Gregory] Colm Tóibín 417

On W. B. Yeats 424

An Introduction for My Plays W. B. Yeats 424

Strangers in the House Nicholas Grene 426

Cathleen ni Houlihan Writes Back Antoinette Quinn 429

[At The Hawk's Well] R. F. Foster 433

[Purgatory] Terence Brown 440

On Lady Gregory 443

Spreading the News Lady Gregory 443

A Note on Spreading the News Lady Gregory 444

The Rising of the Moon Lady Gregory 444

[Spreading the News] Judith Hill 445

Image-Maker for Ireland: Augusta Lady Gregory 449

On J. M. Synge 453

Preface to the Playboy of the Western World J. M. Synge 453

Preface to the First Edition of the Well of the Saints W. B. Yeats 454

[Journal 1907] Joseph Holloway 454

The Controversy over the Playboy of the Western World W. B. Yeats 462

The First Playboy Paige Reynolds 464

[The Playboy of the Western World] Ben Levitas 468

On Bernard Shaw 473

Preface far Politicians Bernard Shaw 473

The Rejection of Shaw's Irish Play: John Bull's Other Island Norma Jenckes 481

Irish Romance Martin Meisel 486

John Bull's Other Islander-Bernard Shaw Declan Kiberd 491

On Sean O'Casey 496

[Journal 1923-24] Joseph Holloway 496

[Journal 1923-24] Lady Gregory 499

[Juno and the Paycock] Gabriel Fallon 502

[Juno and the Paycock] Christopher Murray 506

Sensationalizing Sacrifice Susan Cannon Harris 513

On Samuel Beckett 517

Correspondence of Samuel Beckett and Alan Schneider 517

[Krapp's Last Tape] James Knowlson 521

The Irish Beckett John P. Harrington 525

Beckett and Yeats: Among the Dreaming Shades Anthony Roche 530

Chronicles of the Human Heart Conor McPherson 535

On Brian Friel 540

Field Day Theatre Company

Program Notes for Translations 540

Making a Reply to the Criticisms of Translations J. H. Andrews (1983) Brian Friel 543

[Translations: A Night at the Theatre] Christopher Morash 546

[Review of Translations] Seamus Heaney 552

Translations: On the Page and On the Stage Marilynn J. Richtarik 554

On Conor McPherson 559

[The Weir] Conor McPherson 559

Secular Morality in the Plays of Conor McPherson Christopher A. Grobe 563

The Structural Elegance of Conor McPherson's The Weir Kevin Kerrane 568

Pastoral Exhibits: Narrating Authenticities in Conor McPherson's The Weir Eamonn Jordan 572

On Marina Carr 577

[Introduction to Plays] Marina Carr 577

[Interview: On Playing in By the Bog of Cats] Olwen Fouéré 578

A Cautionary Tale: Marina Carr's By the Bog of Cats Melissa Sihra 582

Grotesque and Carnivalesque Elements in By the Bog of Cats Bernadette Bourke 587

On Theater in Ireland 594

[Postcolonialism and Irish Theater] Victor Merriman 594

Translating Women into Irish Theatre History Mary Trotter 600

The Abbey Theatre and the Irish State Lionel Pilkington 606

Pageants, Parades, and Performance Culture Joan FitzPatrick Dean 613

Chronology 623

Selected Bibliography 633