WELCOME TO THE 2011 Synge Summer School

30 June to 3 July

 

SEMINARS

 

Participants pick ONE seminar. The seminar meets twice – once on Thursday morning and once on Friday morning

Participants should read the stated texts in advance

 

We have provided links below to publishers’ websites. Please note that it is likely that you will find cheaper editions of the plays online or in local shops. 

 

SEMINAR 1: Queer Theatre and Performance

 

In this seminar we will discuss a selection of contemporary plays and performances that address issues of queer gender and sexuality in Irish culture. Analysing content and form, we will attempt to situate these interventions within the broader context of Irish theatre, exploring how they both comment upon and digress from that tradition.

 

Readings:

 

All readings can all be found in Fintan Walsh, ed., Queer Notions: New Plays and Performances From Ireland. Cork: Cork University Press, 2010).

 

·                    Fintan Walsh, ‘Introduction: The Flaming Archive,’ pp. 1-16.

·                    Phillip McMahon, ‘Danny and Chantelle (Still Here),’ pp. 184-208.

·                    Úna McKevitt, with cast, ‘Victor and Gord, Ali and Michael’ pp. 225-243.

·                    Panti, ‘A Woman in Progress,’ pp. 244-262.

 

SEMINAR 2: Contemporary Irish Women Dramatists

 

This seminar will discuss a number of recent plays by Irish women playwrights. Marina Carr has had many successful productions on the Irish stage, from the first production of Ullaloo at the Peacock to Marble at the Abbey in 2009. We will consider the contribution she has made to Irish theatre, and read two recent plays: Woman and Scarecrow and Marble. The seminar will then consider three plays that have been produced between September 2010 and May 2011: B for Baby by Carmel Winters; No Romance by Nancy Harris and Perv by Stacey Gregg. Questions to consider include the issues that emerge in plays by Irish women; whether theatre facilitates the expression of women's experience; how staging and public performance contribute to women's creativity. 

 

READING:

 

Marina Carr.             Woman and Scarecrow and Marble. Can be found in Plays 2 or in individual editions from the Gallery Press. http://www.gallerypress.com/Authors/Mcarr/mcarr.html and http://www.faber.co.uk/work/marina-carr-plays-2/9780571248032/

 

Carmel Winters.       B for Baby.  http://www.acblack.com/B-for-Baby/Carmel-Winters/books/details/9781408140024

 

Nancy Harris.            No Romance. http://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/index.cfm?nid=author&isbn=9781848421615&sr

 

Stacey Gregg.            Perv. Not yet in print, but copies will be available from the Abbey Theatre when the play premiered in late May 2011 – go to www.abbeytheatre.ie/

 

Discounted copies of the plays by Winters and Harris are available from the Abbey shop: http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/shop/detail/no_romance_play_script_2011/

 

SEMINAR 3: GHOST LIGHT

A seminar dedicated to Joseph O'Connor's book about Synge and Molly. We will consider the factual basis of the book, noting O'Connor's joke that Synge biographers will 'want to beat me to death with a shovel', and will place the novel in the context of other recent fictionalisations of Irish writers.

 

Reading: Joseph O'Connor, _Ghost Light_. http://www.josephoconnorauthor.com/novel-ghost-light.html

 

SEMINAR 4: SYNGE AND CONTEMPORARY IRISH DRAMA

THIS SEMINAR IS NOW FULLY BOOKED OUT (as of 29 May 2011)

This seminar seeks to place Synge's influence on contemporary Irish drama in context. We consider his impact on the work of a range of Irish writers, including Tom Murphy, Martin McDonagh, Christina Reid, and Sebastian Barry.

 

Reading: Patrick Lonergan (ed) The Methuen Drama Anthology of Irish Plays. Synge's _Riders to the Sea_, The Shadow of the Glen, Playboy of the Western World.

 

 

 

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Page Updated 1 June, 2010

 

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