Rupture, Representation, and the Refashioning of Identity in Drama from the North of Ireland, 1969-1994

The North of Ireland has long been plagued by violent conflict, and dramatic works from that region often reflect the ongoing social turmoil. This book uses trauma theory to analyze dramatic productions from the North of Ireland. After a person is initially exposed to violence, their sense of identity is ruptured. In an effort to shield themselves from trauma, victims then construct identities, but those identities do not fully integrate traumatic experiences. Ultimately, some individuals successfully assimilate their exposure to traumatic events. This book examines how dramatic productions reflect the rupture in the factors that inform identity, and the more successful attempts to refashion a conception of self in relation to community, continuity, and communion with the mythic.

This volume looks not only at the literary and psychological structure of the plays but also their theatrical components. The book discusses how each play functions as drama, as staged spectacle and representation, and as performance, focusing on the audience’s reaction to particular scenes. Each work was either written by a writer from the North of Ireland or was staged in the North, and all the plays discussed either directly or indirectly confront issues of sectarian conflict. Attention is given to Stewart Parker, John Wilson Haire, Brian Friel, Martin Lynch, Kenneth Branagh, Seamus Heaney, Anne Devlin, Graham Reid, and others.