Staging Beckett in Ireland and Northern Ireland

Offering a new approach to the study of Beckett by placing performance history at the centre of its analysis, the volume examines Samuel Beckett’s drama as it has been staged in the context of Irish and Northern Irish theatre history and culture.

This is the first full-length study to focus on Samuel Beckett’s drama as it has been staged in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

While Beckett’s relationship with his native land was a complex one, the importance of his drama as a creative force both historically and in contemporary practice in those regions cannot be underestimated. The volume brings to light unexamined and little-known productions, for example Beckett’s drama in the Irish language, Druid Theatre Company’s productions, and Beckett at Dublin’s Focus Theatre, as well as previously unpublished archival materials. Leading scholars, such as 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.

Production analyses are mapped on to the political, economic and cultural contexts of Ireland and the North so that readers are invited to experience Beckett’s drama as resonating in new ways, through theatre practice, against the complex and connected histories of these lands.