The Dramatic Representation of the New Ireland on the Contemporary Stage

The re-imagining of Ireland and Irish identity in recent years, linked to both the globalization of the economy and the country's embrace of European integration, is being expressed in theatrical performance and in dramaturgy in a range of ways. The traditional domestic stage spaces tend now to be overtly theatrical rather than naturalistic, are physically invaded by other spaces and times, or exist in a featureless landscape isolated from external society. Key dramatic narratives of the 1960s to 1980s of intergenerational conflict and emigration, which functioned to communicate shared experience and cultural identity, are becoming obsolete or are being re-imagined as narratives of wealth and power and choice. Viewed retrospectively, the changes in Irish dramaturgy have been gradual and have manifested themselves in a number of ways, such as the parodying of genres like the Peasant Play, and a range of experiments with language and dialect. But this paper focuses specifically on another aspect: the search for a binding mythology with which to express and unify conceptions of Irish identity for a contemporary stage.