Synge Summer School Reading List

 

 

Reading for Seminars

 

Every participant in the School is entitled to attend one of the four seminars being offered. It is strongly advised that all participants read the plays for their seminar in advance. If you have any difficulty sourcing texts, please email Patrick.Lonergan@nuigalway.ie

 

 

Seminar Option 1: The Short Plays of JM Synge

Seminar 1: Riders to the Sea and The Well of the Saints

Seminar 2: Shadow of the Glen and The Tinker’s Wedding.

Seminar Leader: Patrick Lonergan

 

Seminar Option 2 : Synge and Contemporary Irish Drama

Seminar 1: The Playboy of the Western World and Martin McDonagh’s The Lonesome West.

Seminar 2: Deirdre of the Sorrows and Brian Friel’s Faith Healer.

Seminar Leader: Patrick Lonergan

 

Seminar Option 3: Hope and History: Northern Irish Drama

Stewart Parker, Plays 2 ( Methuen). Available from Amazon.

Owen McCafferty, Scenes from the Big Picture. Available from Amazon.

Seminar Leader: Mark Phelan

 

Seminar Option 4: Violence in Contemporary Irish Theatre

Participants should read some of the plays below (though there is no need to read all of them)

Martin McDonagh: any of his plays;

Conor McPherson: "This Lime Tree Bower", or "Rum and Vodka" or "The Good Thief", all available in Four Plays

Mark O'Rowe "Howie the Rookie" or "Made in China".

Seminar Leader: Lisa Fitazpatrick

 

 

Reading for Lectures

In order to get the most out of the lectures, it is strongly recommended that you try to read some or all of the plays that will be discussed in lectures in advance.

You are also likely to benefit from reading some of the articles and/or books mentioned below, though it is not essential that you do so.

We are including links below to Amazon.co.uk and to some publishers’ websites. Please note that there may be cheaper editions available of any of these books elsewhere – including your own local bookstores. And many of these plays will be available in university and local libraries.

 

 

Recommended Reading for All Lectures

Synge, JM Complete Plays and The Aran Islands. Any editions.

 

Recommended for Anne Fogarty’s Lecture

Joyce, James, "Scylla and Charybdis" from Ulysses. Any edition. (recommended but not essential)

 

Recommended for Shaun Richards’ Lecture

Some of the articles below may be helpful, but it is not essential to read them all. Most will be available from university libraries, but if you have difficulty finding them, please email patrick.lonergan@nuigalway.ie

Chaudhuri, Una. Staging Place: The Geography Of Modern Drama. Ann Arbor, 1995. “Introduction”.

McAuley, Gay. Space in Performance: Making Meaning in the Theatre. Ann Arbor, 1999. “Introduction”.

Pavis, Patrice. Languages of the Modern Stage: Essays in the Semiology of the Theatre. New York, 1982. Chapter: “Towards a Semiology of the Mise en Scène?

Pavis, Patrice Analysing Performance: Theater, Dance and Film. Ann Arbor, 2003. Chapter: “Space, Time, Action.” (SR)

Ubersfeld, Anne. Reading the Theatre. Toronto, 1999. Chapter: “Theatre and Space”. (SR)

 

Recommended for Christopher Murray’s Lecture

Sean O’Casey, The Dublin Trillogy (Shadow of a Gunman, The Plough and the Stars, Juno and the Paycock).

Sebastian Barry, Tales of Ballycumber.

 

Recommended for Graham Saunders’ Lecture

Beckett, Samuel (1986), The Complete Dramatic Works ( London: Faber). Available from Amazon.

Kane, Sarah. (2001), Complete Plays ( London: Methuen). Available from Amazon.

Kalb, J. (1989), Beckett in Performance ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Available from Amazon.

Saunders, Graham (2009) About Kane: the Playwright and the Work ( London: Faber). Available from Amazon.

 

Recommended for Mark Phelan’s Lecture

 

M.J. Molloy The King of Friday's Men. Available in Selected Plays, published by Colin Smythe - http://www.colinsmythe.co.uk/books/selmjh.htm (this book is also available in many libraries in Ireland)

Lady Gregory, The Workhouse Ward and Spreading the News   Also available from Colin Smythe in Selected Plays - http://www.colinsmythe.co.uk/books/sellgh.htm (this book is also available in many libraries in Ireland)

Tom Murphy, Whistle in the Dark. Available as a single edition from Methuen, or published in Tom Murphy Plays 4, also from Methuen.

 

Recommended for Lisa Fitzpatrick’s Lecture

Aron, Geraldine The Donahue Sisters London: Samuel French Ltd, 1991 (Amazon - The Donahue Sisters (Acting Edition))

Carr, Marina On Raftery’s Hill London: Faber & Faber, 2000 (also in Marina Carr Plays 2, London: Faber & Faber, 2009; also available from http://www.gallerypress.com/Authors/Mcarr/Books/mcaorh.html)

Feehily, Stella Duck London: Nick Hern Books, 2003. Available from Amazon.

Spallen, Abbie Pumpgirl London: Faber & Faber, 2006. Available from Amazon.

Some of the articles below may be helpful, but it is not essential to read them all. Most will be available from university libraries, but if you have difficulty finding them, please email patrick.lonergan@nuigalway.ie

Diamond, Elin Unmaking Mimesis London & NY: Routledge, 1998: Chapter 1 ‘Realism’s Hysteria’

Diamond, Elin “Mimesis, Mimicry and the “True-Real”’ Modern Drama 32:1: 58-72

Hesford, Wendy ‘Staging Terror’ The Drama Review 50:3, 29-41

Mulvey, Laura ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ Screen 16(3): 6–18. Available online at: https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Visual+Pleasure+and+Narrative+Cinema

 

Recommended for Patrick Lonergan’s Lecture

William Shakespeare, Henry V, As You Like It, Hamlet (recommended but not essential).

Sean O’Casey, Red Roses for Me, available in Plays 1 (Faber).Recommended but not essential. Amazon.

Joyce, James, "Scylla and Charybdis" from Ulysses. Any edition. (recommended but not essential)

James Shapiro, 1599 – A Year in the Life of Shakespeare, chapters one to three (recommended)

Janet Clare and Stephen O’Neill, Shakespeare and the Irish Writer. Available from UCD Press.