The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance

This Handbook offers a multiform sweep of theoretical, historical, practical and personal glimpses into a landscape roughly characterised as contemporary Irish theatre and performance. Bringing together a spectrum of voices and sensibilities in each of its four sections — Histories, Close-ups, Interfaces, and Reflections — it casts its gaze back across the past sixty years or so to recall, analyse, and assess the recent legacy of theatre and performance on this island. While offering information, overviews and reflections of current thought across its chapters, this book will serve most handily as food for thought and a springboard for curiosity. Offering something different in its mix of themes and perspectives, so that previously unexamined surfaces might come to light individually and in conjunction with other essays, it is a wide-ranging and indispensable resource in Irish theatre studies.

Eamonn Jordan is Associate Professor in Drama Studies at the School of English, Drama and Film, University College Dublin, Ireland. His published works include Theatre Stuff: Critical Essays on Contemporary Irish Theatre (2000) and Dissident Dramaturgies: Contemporary Irish Theatre (2010), and he has co-edited The Theatre of Martin McDonagh: A World of Savage Stories (2006) and The Theatre of Conor McPherson: 'Right beside the Beyond' (2012) with Lilian Chambers.

Eric Weitz is Associate Professor in Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His publications include The Cambridge Introduction to Comedy (2009) and Theatre & Laughter (2016), as well as edited collections and single-author essays and articles. He sits on the boards of two socially-engaged theatre companies – Smashing Times (Dublin) and Collective Encounters (Liverpool) – and he is President of the Irish Society for Theatre and Performance Research.