DRAM319: Contemporary Irish Drama (Winter 2008)

Hi All,

I’ve just emailed all the website evaluations to your Queen’s email addresses. See you at the exam!

The film screening is this TUESDAY APRIL 1, 5:30pm in ROOM 102.

A copy of the film is also at the Drama desk for a 3-hr sign-out.

Laura M and I were trying to distinguish Tom Murphy (the actor who played Ray Dooley in Beauty Queen) from Tom Murphy the playwright, and were shocked to find that he had recently died. If you’re curious to read more about him, you can check out this obit: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/arts/25murphy.html

Note that the film he most recently starred in, “Adam and Paul” is a possibility for our screening series. I didn’t include it in the original poll because — if you think Beauty Queen is bleak — it is quite dire in its portrait of contemporary Dublin. However, I do have it if anyone is interested.

To give you a sense of the painted masks used in Dublin by Lamplight:

Source: BBC Liverpool

Source: ExtraExtra

A review of the production that is currently running, and an interview with one of the leads.

Review

Interview

This course website is a blog, so you are welcome to ask questions here, or post comments. It’s still a while until January, but if you want to get ahead on your reading over the holidays, check out the Plays page to the left. I look forward to meeting you in January. Contemporary Irish Drama retains the poetry that Irish drama is well known for, but also injects a healthy dose of spectacle and mania. We’re in for a wild ride…