University of Exeter Press Making Theatre in Northern Ireland: Through and Beyond the Troubles (Exeter Performance Studies)

'Making Theatre in Northern Ireland' examines the relationships between theatre and the turbulent political and social context of Northern Ireland since 1969. It explores in detail key theatrical performances, which deal directly with this context. The works examined are used as exemplars of wider approaches to theatre-making about Northern Ireland. The book is aimed at a student readership: it is largely play text-based, and it contains useful contextualising material such as a chronological list of Northern Ireland's plays in the modern period, a full bibliography, and a brief chronology. Students find it hard to obtain any detailed and informed perspective on this key element of the theatre of Ireland and Britain: Northern Ireland's theatrical traditions are normally discussed only as an adjunct to discussions of Irish theatre more generally, or as so exceptional as to be beyond comparison with others. This book sets out to fill this gap. Review 'To read Tom Maguire's illuminating, ground-breaking study Making Theatre in Northern Ireland, you begin to understand to what degree Northern Ireland's writers have been hemmed in and corralled by the Troubles [...] It brings the discussion of theatre in Northern Ireland to a new level and will prove indispensable for practitioners, students and the public from now on.' --Irish Theatre, Autumn 2007'This book gives a sense of the lived experience of the troubles as depicted in a very broad range of dramatic productions where the effects of political strife are performed by characters [...] Tom Maguire, in short, is a class act! --The Irish Book Review, Spring 2007 About the Author Dr Tom Maguire is Lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Ulster.