While I'm not focusing solely on drama for my research/paper, I do intend to take the opportunity to catch some great theater (or "theatre" as they spell it over there) during my trip. I currently have two shows lined up, though both will be during my Republic of Ireland leg of the trip as opposed to the Belfast portion. Nonetheless, at least one of them is pertinent to my studies!
I will be seeing a preview showing of Brian Friel’s amazing play Translations on June 27th. Brian Friel, as I mentioned, is one of the writers I’m focusing my MA essay on, and Translations is probably my favorite (it’s at least in the top 3) of his plays both for its content and its structure. I also teach this play in my senior elective: The Best Irish Poems & Plays (which I'll be teaching again in the fall). Friel would tell you that the play is about language, and he’d probably stop there. Yes, it’s a play about language, but it’s also full of postcolonial concerns. The play is set in a hedge school in 1833— hedge schools were (mostly rural) illegal schools that carried out instruction in the Irish language after England outlawed the use of the native language. It is also set in the midst of England’s great (as in large and extensive) “re-mapping” and “re-naming” of Ireland’s towns, roads, etc.; essentially the Anglicizing of Irish place names and boundaries (they took all the Irish names of rivers, towns, roads, and converted them into more English-sounding names). This was known as the Ordnance Survey.
Now, the really cool thing structurally is that while all of the actors deliver their lines in English, over half the characters are supposedly speaking Irish. In other words, half the characters only know Irish and the audience is to understand that Irish is the language they are speaking, when – in reality (and here is Friel’s point, as virtually no one in the audience now knows the Irish language) – the actors are speaking English. For instance, though we, the audience, understand both sides of a dialogue between an English-speaking character and an Irish-speaking character, the characters will interact as though they do not understand one another. It’s all very postmodern and delicious. I'll be seeing the play at the very famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin – famous, of course, for its role in the Irish Literary Revival/Dramatic Revival courtesy of W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory (and J.M. Synge, etc.).
The other very exciting theatrical experience I will have will be on the opening night of the Galway Arts Festival, July 11th. I will be seeing Misterman by Enda Walsh, and not only will Enda Walsh be directing it, but the strikingly blue-eyed and divine Cillian Murphy (you may recall him from the films The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Inception, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, among others) will be starring in it! And yes, you better believe I’ll be there opening night.
Thanks for reading and check back again after June 11th!
Jeannie
Now, the really cool thing structurally is that while all of the actors deliver their lines in English, over half the characters are supposedly speaking Irish. In other words, half the characters only know Irish and the audience is to understand that Irish is the language they are speaking, when – in reality (and here is Friel’s point, as virtually no one in the audience now knows the Irish language) – the actors are speaking English. For instance, though we, the audience, understand both sides of a dialogue between an English-speaking character and an Irish-speaking character, the characters will interact as though they do not understand one another. It’s all very postmodern and delicious. I'll be seeing the play at the very famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin – famous, of course, for its role in the Irish Literary Revival/Dramatic Revival courtesy of W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory (and J.M. Synge, etc.).
The other very exciting theatrical experience I will have will be on the opening night of the Galway Arts Festival, July 11th. I will be seeing Misterman by Enda Walsh, and not only will Enda Walsh be directing it, but the strikingly blue-eyed and divine Cillian Murphy (you may recall him from the films The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Inception, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, among others) will be starring in it! And yes, you better believe I’ll be there opening night.
Thanks for reading and check back again after June 11th!
Jeannie
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