Introduction: Staging an Irish enlightenment / David O'Shaughnessy -- Part 1. Representations and resistance -- Straddling: London-Irish actresses and their characters / Felicity Nussbaum -- John Johnstone and the possibilities of Irishness, 1783-1820 / Jim Davis -- The diminution of 'Irish' Johnstone / Oskar Cox Jensen -- Part 2. Symbiotic stages: Dublin and London -- Midas, Kane O'Hara and the Italians: an interplay of comedy between London and Dublin / Michael Burden -- Trading Loyalties: Sheridan, the School for scandal and the Irish propositions / Robert W. Jones -- Sydney Owenson, Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and the domestic stage of Post-Union politics / Colleen Taylor -- Part 3: Enlightened perspectives -- Civility, patriotism and performance: Cato and the Irish history play / David O'Shaughnessy -- From Ireland to Peru: Arthur Murphy's (anti)-imperial dramaturgy / Bridget Orr -- The provincial commencement of James Field Stanfield / Declan McCormack -- Worlding the village: John O'Keeffe's 'Excentric' pastorals / Helen Burke.
Summary:
The theatre was a crucial forum for the representation of Irish civility and culture for the eighteenth-century English audience. Irish actors and playwrights, operating both as individuals and within networks, were remarkably popular and potent during this period, especially in London. As ideas of Enlightenment percolated throughout Britain and Ireland, Irish theatrical practitioners - actors, managers, playwrights, critics and journalists - exploited a growing receptivity to Irish civility, and advanced a patriot agenda of political and economic autonomy. Mobility, toleration and the capacity to negotiate multiple allegiances are marked features of this Irish theatrical Enlightenment, whose ambitious participants saw little conflict between their twin loyalties to the Crown and to Ireland. This collection of essays responds to recent work in the areas of eighteenth-century theatre studies, Irish studies and Enlightenment studies. The volume's discussions of genre, colonialism, gender, race, music, slavery, and dress open up new avenues of scholarship and research across disciplines.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.