Performing the Body in Irish Theatre

Performing the Body in Irish Theatre

This page intentionally left blank

Performing the Body in Irish Theatre Bernadette Sweeney

Bernadette Sweeney 2008 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 978-1-4039-9709-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-54607-7 ISBN 978-0-230-58205-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230582057 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sweeney, Bernadette, 1969 Performing the body in Irish theatre/bernadette Sweeney. p. cm. Includes index. 1. English drama Irish authors History and criticism. 2. English drama 20th century History and criticism. 3. Body, Human, in literature. 4. Theater Ireland History 20th century. 5. Body, Human Social aspects Ireland History 20th century. I. Title. PR8789.S94 2008 822.914093561 dc22 2007050201 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08

For my mother and in memory of my father

This page intentionally left blank

Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements ix x Introduction: A Sense of the Body 1 1 The Absent Body? Performing Tradition 8 1.1 Cultural specificity Is there an Irish body? 8 1.2 Performing tradition 20 1.3 Literally theatrical The Irish theatre context 36 2 The Inanimate Body: The Great Hunger 50 2.1 Context of the first production 50 2.2 Staging a masterpiece 56 2.3 The body as object 61 2.4 Performance A collaborative process 73 3 The Savage Body: The Saxon Shore 78 3.1 Context of the first production 78 3.2 Staging transformation 86 3.3 The body in pain 94 3.4 Performance An acting problem? 102 4 The Dancing Body: Dancing at Lughnasa 111 4.1 Context of the first production 111 4.2 Staging nostalgia 116 4.3 The body as authenticity 121 4.4 Performance A marketing tool 132 5 The Troubled Body: At the Black Pig s Dyke 138 5.1 Context of the first production 138 5.2 Staging tradition 145 5.3 The body as territory 155 5.4 Performance Unwittingly interactive 160 6 The Indeterminate Body: Low in the Dark 168 6.1 Context of the first production 168 6.2 Staging the female voice 173 vii

viii Contents 6.3 Body as gender 179 6.4 Performance On record 186 7 The Present Body? Evolving Tradition 194 7.1 Performing Irishness 194 7.2 Staging the body in contemporary Irish theatre 200 7.3 Body of literature A reflex of realism 212 Notes 218 Select Bibliography 228 Index 237

List of Illustrations 2.1 The Great Hunger, Tom Hickey as Maguire (back to camera) with The Mother effigy, and Bríd Ní Neachtain as Mary-Anne (1983) 65 2.2 The Great Hunger, Tom Hickey as Maguire, upside down on gate, behind Conal Kearney as Malone and Joan Sheehy as Agnes (1983) 72 4.1 Dancing at Lughnasa, Catherine Byrne as Chris centre on table, Dearbhla Molloy as Maggie, far left, Bríd Brennan as Agnes, and Bríd Ní Neachtain as Rose right (1991) 126 4.2 Dancing at Lughnasa, Robert Gwilym as Gerry Evans dances with Bríd Brennan as Agnes in foreground, with Catherine Byrne as Chris in background (1991) 128 5.1 At the Black Pig s Dyke, Druid Company as Mummers (1992) 139 5.2 At the Black Pig s Dyke, Frankie McCafferty as Tom Fool, Druid Production (1992) 153 6.1 Low in the Dark, SarahJane Scaife as Binder leaping in the foreground, with Joan Brosnan Walsh as Bender in background (1989) 169 6.2 Low in the Dark, Dermod Moore as Bone, standing, with Peter Holmes as Baxter, sitting (1989) 170 7.1 Medea Deirdre Roycroft, Loose Canon production (2005) 206 7.2 Ballads, CoisCéim Dance Theatre Company (1997) 210 ix

Acknowledgements In the course of this work I was lucky enough to encounter a number of talented and committed theatre practitioners and archivists, and appreciate their generosity and expertise: my thanks to all, especially Sarah- Jane Scaife, Philip Hardy, Lynda Henderson, Tom Hickey, James King, Tom Mac Intyre, Patrick Mason, David Rudkin, Vincent Woods, Andrea Ainsworth, Jason Byrne, Olwen Fouéré and Kathy McArdle. My heartfelt thanks to Abbey Theatre archivist Mairéad Delaney; I would also like to acknowledge the help of the late Dave Nolan of the Abbey Theatre. Thanks also to staff at the UCD Folklore Department, Thomas Conway and Druid Theatre Archive, the National Library, and to Tom Condit at The Heritage Service/OPW, Dúchas. All efforts have been made to secure rights for material used in this book. I gratefully acknowledge Lilliput Press for permission to reproduce extracts of The Great Hunger, Faber and Faber for extracts from Dancing at Lughnasa and Low in the Dark, and Methuen for extracts from At the Black Pig s Dyke and The Saxon Shore. I gratefully acknowledge photographers Amelia Stein, Kip Carroll and Ros Kavanagh for the use of their photographs, and the archives of the Abbey Theatre and Crooked Sixpence for permission to use images by Fergus Bourke and Brendan Walsh. I thank Vincent Woods, David Rudkin, SarahJane Scaife and Philip Hardy for permission to reference personal interviews, and thanks to Jim Keys, a member of Ad Hoc in Derry, for permission to reproduce the Ad Hoc script and letter to Druid. All other material is included according to fair usage guidelines and I thank especially colleagues in the field of Irish theatre and drama studies. If any material used here is not credited appropriately please contact me through my publishers. I am very thankful to my publisher Palgrave Macmillan and Paula Kennedy for publishing this work. Thanks too to Helen Craine and Christabel Scaife. I gratefully acknowledge the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, University College Cork, for a publications award towards the publication of this book. Much of this work was developed while I was a postgraduate student of the School of Drama, Trinity College Dublin (TCD). I would like to acknowledge the support of the staff of the School of Drama at that time, especially Anna McMullan for her invaluable guidance and support. I thank Dennis Kennedy and the School of Drama for x

Acknowledgements xi facilitating my practical interrogation of my research, and special thanks to Brian Singleton (TCD), Claudia Harris (BYU), Kevin Crawford and Steve Wilmer, and to TCD first-year theatre practice students who made an invaluable contribution to my study of the issues of transformation and performance. I would like to acknowledge the support of my colleagues in Drama & Theatre Studies at University College Cork, Ger FitzGibbon, Franc Chamberlain and Jools Gilson-Ellis. Thanks too to Andy Crook and Adam Ledger (Hull University). Thanks to my teachers at the University of Ulster and TCD, and to my students at TCD and University College Cork. Finally I would like to thank my family, Mary Sweeney, Terri Sweeney, Anne (Holly) O Connell, Deirdre Harvey, Kiara Downey, Peter McDermott, Colum O Cleirigh, David Clarkson, Joan Conway, Saskia Wei bach, Ginny Reed and Out and Out Theatre. Love and thanks to Bryan and Ruby Mae Ferriter.