New plays from the Abbey Theatre 1993-1995 / Michael Harding ...[et al.] ; edited and with an introduction by Christopher Fitz-Simon and Sanford Sternlicht.
By: Harding, Michael P
.
Contributor(s): Mac Intyre, Tom | O'Kelly, Donal | Donnelly, Neil | Williams, Niall | Fitz-Simon, Christopher | Sternlicht, Sanford.
Material type: 
BookSeries: Irish studies.Publisher: New York : Syracuse University, 1996Description: xxiv, 315 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.ISBN: 0815603452 ; 0815626991 .Subject(s): English drama -- Irish authors | English drama -- 20th century -- Irish authorsDDC classification: 822.914 | Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Lending | MTU Bishopstown Library Lending | 822.914 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 00068688 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
This first volume in a series of drama anthologies invites readers to experience five of the best new plays being produced in 1993-1995 in Ireland's most famous theatre, The Abbey Theatre. This collection includes plays produced at the Abbey within the previous three years. Michael Harding's ""Hubert Murray's Widow"", his fourth play for theatre, is a surreal nightmare revolving around a killing and a funeral. With a macabre sense of humour, he explores the sense of confusion and harsh reality of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland's border counties today. Neil Donnelly has had five plays produced by the National Theatre Society since 1980. The comedy, ""The Duty Master"" deals with an Irish-born school teacher who has rejected his roots to the extent that he has become ""more English that the English"". Marital strife combined with a visit from his brother to the exclusive public school north of London where he works results in his being forced to reconsider his personal and national identity. O'Kelly presents the plight of an illegal African immigrant. Niall William's ""A Little Like Paradise"" deals with hope and humour - the regeneration of a small Western Irish town unknown to the European community and ignored by Dublin. The final play in the collection, Tom MacIntyre's ""Sheep's Milk on the Boil"" is set on a remote island off the Irish coast.
Hubert Murray's Widow / Michael Harding -- Sheep's Milk on the Boil / Tom Mac Intyre -- Asylum! Asylum! / Donal O'Kelly -- The Duty Master / Neil Donnelly -- A little like Paradise / Niall Williams.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Illustrations (p. vii)
- Introduction (p. ix)
- The Plays
- Sour Grapes (p. 3)
- The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde (p. 59)
- Melonfarmer (p. 113)
- By the Bog of Cats (p. 189)
Reviews provided by Syndetics
CHOICE Review
Theater enthusiasts will find this collection of five plays produced at Dublin's Abbey a revealing sample of the current output of a major playwrighting people. However, the overall quality here is middling. Honors to "A Little Like Paradise" by Niall Williams, in which a community of ancient bar denizens shakes off its prevailing torpor. Representative Irish bull is coined by one character who comes back from death-by-drink to celebrity: "I'm really living since I died." In Michael Harding's "Hubert Murray's Widow," two republican ghosts still compete for the women who cost them their lives. Tom MacIntyre's short "Sheep's Milk on the Boil" also offers love complications, but the dramatist's main energies are given to a display of poetic speech that verges on preciousness. "Asylum! Asylum!" by Donal O'Kelly, criticizes Irish cruelty to would-be immigrants, and Neil Donnelly's "The Duty Master" offers a thin teacup-tempest a la Terrance Rattigan at an English prep school. The book's introduction is grandly titled "The Abbey and Its History," but stops just short of seven pages. The whole book needs a proofing for typos. Recommended only for comprehensive academic and public collections serving upper-division undergraduates and above. R. J. Thompson Canisius CollegeAuthor notes provided by Syndetics
Judy Friel was born in Derry in the North of Ireland. She is the literary manager of Ireland's National Theatre.
Sanford Sternlicht teaches English at Syracuse University. He is the author of many books, including C. S. Forester and the Hornblower Saga, Revised Edition, also published at Syracuse University Press.