About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherCambridge University Press

ISBN-101107007933

ISBN-139781107007932

eBay Product ID (ePID)113493770

Product Key Features

Number of Pages228 Pages

Publication NameDion Boucicault : Irish Identity on Stage

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2012

SubjectTheater / History & Criticism, European / General

TypeTextbook

AuthorDeirdre Mcfeely

Subject AreaDrama, Performing Arts

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.7 in

Item Weight17.6 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.2 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2012-000306

Dewey Edition23

Reviews"This is a wonderfully well-researched and discerning book, placing Boucicault as a much more politically motivated playwright than previous critics have ever suggested." --Irish Times, 'McFeely's sparkling collection of research on the political importance of Boucicault's plays is detailed and comprehensive, yet her writing is not burdened with perplexing terminology or arbitrary discourse â€¦ [Her] accurate and acute analysis of primary resources provides sound evidence for her argument, while her familiar style provides an excellent foundation for the nascent theatre researcher delving into the captivating realm of Irish literature and drama.' A. I. Cahill, Studies in Theatre and Performance, 'McFeely is not so scholastically detached as to let us forget that Boucicault's plays are fun and that he was a master of pithy dialogue and comic inventiveness. This is a wonderfully well-researched and discerning book, placing Boucicault as a much more politically motivated playwright than previous critics have ever suggested.' Irish Times, "The results of her re-contextualization are revealing, and the book is filled with surprising archival detail. For example, McFeely gives a magisterial reassessment of Arrah-na-Pogue, showing how Boucicault created an enduring myth that all or part of this play was banned. McFeely also throws light on overlooked scripts such as The O'Dowd and The Rapparee, and her analysis is persuasive, with plot and language examined in order to make judgements about artistic quality and political imperative." -Times Literary Supplement

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal822/.8

Table Of ContentIntroduction; 1. Becoming Boucicault; 2. Nationalism, race and class in The Colleen Bawn; 3. Music, myth and censorship in Arrah-na-Pogue; 4. Alternative readings: The Rapparee and Daddy O'Dowd; 5. The politics of exile: The Shaughraun in New York; 6. 'Audiences are not political assemblies': The Shaughraun in London; 7. Supporting the Land League: The O'Dowd; Conclusion: towards an Irish national drama.

SynopsisAs actor, manager, designer and playwright, Dion Boucicault was one of the most dynamic and influential figures in nineteenth-century theatre. Deirdre McFeely presents the first full critical study of Boucicault, providing analysis of his most significant plays whilst also giving an important overview of his entire career and dramatic output., Deirdre McFeely presents the first book-length critical study of Dion Boucicault, placing his Irish plays in the context of his overall career. The book undertakes a detailed examination of the reception of the plays in the New York-London-Dublin theatre triangle which Boucicault inhabited. Interpreting theatre history as a sociocultural phenomenon that closely approximates social history, McFeely examines the different social and political worlds in which the plays were produced, demonstrating that the complex politics of reception of the plays cannot be separated from the social and political implications of colonialism at that time. The study argues for a shift in focus from the politics of the plays, and their author, to the politics of the auditorium and the press, or the politics of reception. It is within that complex and shifting field of stage, theatre and public media that Boucicault's performance as playwright, actor and publicist is interpreted.

LC Classification NumberPR4161.B2 Z85 2012