A History of Irish Theater
Irish theater has a long history, dating back to medieval times. Some of the best-known playwrights of the 19th and 20th century, including Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett, were Irish, even if they achieved much of their success outside of Ireland. Today, Irish theater remains a vibrant entity. As Mary Trotter in "Modern Irish Theatre" observes, "In the 21st century, Irish theater's legacy continues, with companies outside Ireland committed to performing works from the Irish dramatic repertoire, and a new generation of playwrights, directors and performers working inside and outside Ireland."
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Origins
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According to Patrick Maume, PhD, of Queen's University, Belfast, Irish theater's origins lie in the mystery plays of medieval times. With the Reformation, performance of these plays abated, although the tradition survived in the form of "mumming," a form of folk play, until quite recently. Secular plays became popular in Dublin in the 17th century and led to the creation of the city's first commercial theaters.
Links With London
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During the 18th century, a tendency developed for Ireland's best playwrights and actors to move to the theaters of London, according to Patrick Maume. Among these was Dublin-born Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the son of a theater owner who went on to write "The Rivals" and "The School for Scandal" and own and manage London's Drury Lane, one of the largest theaters in Europe at the time.
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Nineteenth Century
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The 1800s witnessed the spread of commercial theater from Dublin to provincial cities like Cork and Belfast. Many of these theaters relied on spectacle to encourage people to buy tickets and were not concerned with producing high-quality drama. As a result, in the 1890s a movement grew among some writers and actors toward creating work with a high artistic standard. Much of this work was linked to a growing sense of Irish nationalism and the Celtic Revival. The first Irish-language plays were written around this time, including Douglas Hyde's "Casadh an tSugain." Patrick Maume observes that these developments "were often linked to a political outlook which saw commercialism and vulgarity as English importations, and Irish patriotism, spirituality and artistic excellence as intimately linked."
The Abbey Theatre
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The growing sense of Irish nationalism gave rise to the Abbey Theatre, founded in Dublin in 1903. Key figures, including William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn, wanted to promote a specifically Irish form of theater. The playwright J.M. Synge's classic "The Playboy of the Western World" caused a riot at its performance in 1907. The Abbey survived on a very low budget until 1924, when the new Irish Free State government made it the first state-subsidized theater in the English-speaking world. The Abbey put on the first production of Sean O'Casey's play "The Plough and the Stars," set during the 1916 Easter Rising.
Recent Years
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Irish theater has undergone a revival since the 1960s, with a key role being played by regional theatrical companies such as Druid in Galway and Field Day in Derry. Playwright Brian Friel and actor Stephen Rea formed the Field Day Theatre Company in 1980 with the express intention of using locally written drama to bring people together at a time when "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland were ongoing. Another playwright who has used Ireland as an inspiration for his work is English-born Martin McDonagh, author of Tony Award nominees "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" and "The Lieutenant of Inishmore."
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Comments
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