Staging Beckett in Ireland and Northern Ireland

This is the first full-length study to focus on the staging of Samuel Beckett’s drama in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Beckett’s relationship with his native land was a complex one, but the importance of his drama as a creative force both historically and in contemporary practice in Ireland and Northern Ireland cannot be underestimated. Drawing on previously unpublished archival materials and re-examining familiar narratives, this volume traces the history of Beckett’s drama at Dublin’s Abbey and Gate Theatres as well as bringing to light unexamined and little-known productions such as those performed in the Irish language, Druid Theatre Company’s productions, and those of Dublin’s Focus Theatre. Leading scholars in Beckett studies and in Irish drama, inlcuding Anna McMullan and Anthony Roche, and renowned dramatic interpreters of Beckett’s work such as Barry McGovern, explore Beckett’s drama within the context of Irish creative theatrical practice and heritage, and point towards the theatrical and performance legacies that follow in its wake.

As with its companion volume, Staging Beckett in Great Britain, production analyses are mapped on to political, economic and cultural contexts. Readers are invited to experience Beckett’s drama as resonating in new ways, through theatre practice, against the complex and connected histories of Ireland, north and south.