Difference between revisions of "2008 AM From New York to Ballybeg: Crosscurrents in Irish and American"

Revision as of 17:36, 14 May 2008

• Lecturer: Maria Doyle
• Time: Mo, 14-16
• Venue: A10 1-121a
• Contact: mdoyle@westga.edu

From New York to Ballybeg: Crosscurrents in Irish and American Drama

For the last several years, Irish plays have seemed to dominate Broadway with Brian Friel's small town of Ballybeg and Martin McDonagh's wickedly comic Leenane resituating themselves in the middle of Manhattan. At the beginning of the last century, it was a tour of Ireland's Abbey Theater that provided inspiration for American dramatist Eugene O'Neill, and several contemporary Irish playwrights have cited innovative American writers, like Tennessee Williams and David Mamet, as influences on their work. This course will explore these conversations across the Atlantic Ocean, examining not only the specific influences that writers have on one another but also larger questions of cultural exchange. How do these writers define their own sense of nationality? How is America imagined as a destination for immigrants, a space of opportunity or a site of violence? How is Ireland imagined in relation to this image? How do audiences in both spaces respond to these issues, and what does live performance contribute to that reaction?

Class requirements:

For everyone: regular attendance, active participation (especially during class sessions designated “discussion”), three short one-two page response essays, occasional out-of-class exercises as assigned; for advanced credit (6 KP), students must complete a ten-twelve page research paper preceded by a one-two page research proposal or 10-minute oral presentation (students wishing to pursue this option should consult with me).

Course Texts:

John Millington Synge, The Playboy of the Western World and Other Plays

Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey into Night

Brian Friel, Philadelphia, Here I Come! (this can be purchased as an individual text or found in Selected Plays)

Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

Marina Carr, By the Bog of Cats (can be purchased individually or found in Marina Carr: Plays 1)

David Mamet, American Buffalo

Martin McDonagh, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Other Plays

A list of materials for further reading and exploration will be provided as the semester progresses.

Course Schedule:

Section I: Establishing a Conversation from Dublin to New York to Ballybeg

Lecture 1: May 19 J.M. Synge, The Playboy of the Western World: Ireland’s National Theater and a Contested Idea of Nationhood

Lecture 2: May 26 Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey into Night: Irish Drama and the Rise of American Theater

Discussion 1: Time to be determined, week of May 26 Synge and O’Neill: Issues in Language and Performance

Lecture 3: June 2 Brian Friel, Philadelphia, Here I Come!: Imagining America from Ireland

Discussion 2: Time to be determined, week of June 2 O’Neill and Friel: Crosscurrents

Section II: American Trends and Irish Interpretations Lecture 4: June 9 Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire: A Gothic Theater of the American South

Discussion 3: Time to be determined, week of June 9 The Poetics of Tennessee Williams’s Drama

Lecture 5: June 16 Marina Carr, By the Bog of Cats: A Gothic Theater of the Irish Midlands

Discussion 4: Time to be determined, week of June 16 By the Bog of Cats: White Dresses and Female Violence

Lecture 6: June 23 David Mamet, American Buffalo: Language as Combat in the Wasteland of the American Dream

Discussion 5: Time to be determined, week of June 23 American Buffalo: Thugs, Junk and Masculinity

Lecture 7: June 30 Martin McDonagh, The Beauty Queen of Leenane: Language as Combat in the Wasteland of the Irish West

Discussion 6: Time to be determined, week of June 30 The Beauty Queen of Leenane: Martin McDonagh’s "Oirish" Ireland

Lecture 8: July 7 Explorations Further Afield: Some Concluding Thoughts on the Conversation