Shakespeare in Ireland
Adaptations and Appropriations
Published on 1. May 2025
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-350-45838-3 (ISBN)
Description
Through a selection of essays from a variety of scholarly voices, this volume maps the various ways in which Shakespeare has been adapted, adopted and appropriated in Ireland from the late 17th century through to the present day.
Shakespeare's plays have been performed in Ireland since the 1660s, when Smock Alley theatre was established in Dublin, with Shakespeare serving as its essential stock-in-trade. Since then the playwright's work has played a central role in the formation of Irish culture. His works helped to fashion colonial identity in Ireland in the 18th century and beyond, but, from the 1800s onwards, Shakespeare also became an important figure for Irish nationalists.
In the modern period, Shakespeare's influence can also be discerned in the work of a broad range of Irish writers, and this volume considers the impact of his plays on such authors as Synge, Joyce, Beckett and others. The volume also explores the place of Shakespeare in the Irish theatrical tradition.
Shakespeare in Ireland explores the history of Irish Shakespeare through the numerous ways in which the playwright and his work were reconfigured and recycled in various Irish contexts. The volume demonstrates how Shakespeare has been rendered Irish in a variety of complex ways, and it aims to track, over time, the story of how Shakespeare became a fully hibernicised figure.
Shakespeare's plays have been performed in Ireland since the 1660s, when Smock Alley theatre was established in Dublin, with Shakespeare serving as its essential stock-in-trade. Since then the playwright's work has played a central role in the formation of Irish culture. His works helped to fashion colonial identity in Ireland in the 18th century and beyond, but, from the 1800s onwards, Shakespeare also became an important figure for Irish nationalists.
In the modern period, Shakespeare's influence can also be discerned in the work of a broad range of Irish writers, and this volume considers the impact of his plays on such authors as Synge, Joyce, Beckett and others. The volume also explores the place of Shakespeare in the Irish theatrical tradition.
Shakespeare in Ireland explores the history of Irish Shakespeare through the numerous ways in which the playwright and his work were reconfigured and recycled in various Irish contexts. The volume demonstrates how Shakespeare has been rendered Irish in a variety of complex ways, and it aims to track, over time, the story of how Shakespeare became a fully hibernicised figure.
Reviews / Votes
This is one of the most in-depth, comprehensive and expansive studies on Shakespeare in Ireland. Spanning centuries, it focuses on the various ways the playwright and his work have been reconfigured and recycled and it includes material that reflects radical recent changes to Irish culture. * Adele Lee, Emerson College, USA * [A] comprehensive overview of Shakespeare's role in Irish theater and literature from the 18th century to the present ... Recommended for advanced undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
7 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
455 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-45838-3 (9781350458383)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Andrew Murphy MRIA FTCD is Professor of English at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He has previously worked at the University of St Andrews, UK, and his major authored publications include Shakespeare in Print (2nd ed. 2021); Ireland, Reading and Cultural Nationalism (2018); Shakespeare for the People (2008); and Ireland, Colonialism and Renaissance Literature (1999). He has edited four volumes -- most recently The Nation in British Literature and Culture (2023) -- and served as UK Associate Editor for The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare (2 vols, 2016). He is currently editing Henry V with expected publication in 2027.
Content
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Shakespeare on Aran
Andrew Murphy (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
1. Thomas Sheridan's Coriolanus (1752) and the Making of Smock Alley
David O'Shaughnessy (University of Galway, Ireland)
2. Tralee, 1756: Shakespeare on the Atlantic Edge
Marc Caball (University College Dublin, Ireland) and Jason McElligott (Marsh's Library, Dublin, Ireland)
3. Gothic Protagonist, Romantic Icon, Irish Character? The Uses of Shakespeare in the Portrayal of Melmoth the Wanderer
Raphael Ingelbien and Benedicte Seynhaeve (KU Leuven, Belgium)
4. From Stratford to Galway: W. B. Yeats on Shakespeare
Neil Rhodes (University of St Andrews, UK)
5. Unquiet Ancestors: Beckett Reading Shakespeare through Synge and Joyce
Claudia Olk (LMU Munich, Germany)
6. Shakespeare Iconography in Victorian Belfast: Materiality, Industrialisation, Imperialism
Molly Quinn-Leitch(Queen's University Belfast, UK)
7. Seacspaoir sa Taibhdhearc: Irish Translations
Andrew Murphy (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
8. Shakespeare's Irish History Museum: Adapting Richard II
Stephen O'Neill ( National University of Ireland Maynooth)
9. Hamlet the Irishman: Irish Theatre Histories, Re-Invented and Re-Circulated
Patrick Lonergan (University of Galway, Ireland)
10. 'Great Liberties are Taken with the Action': Siobhan McKenna's 'Experimental Version' of Hamlet
Emer McHugh (Queen's University Belfast, UK)
11. 'Looks the Part': Conceptual Casting as Incomplete Adaptation in Corcadorca's Merchant of Venice (2005) and Terra Nova's Belfast Tempest (2016)
Justine Nakase (Independent scholar, USA)
12. 'To tell [Ireland's Shakespeare] story': Filmic Histories / Social Justice
Mark Thornton Burnett (Queen's University Belfast, UK)
Index
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Shakespeare on Aran
Andrew Murphy (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
1. Thomas Sheridan's Coriolanus (1752) and the Making of Smock Alley
David O'Shaughnessy (University of Galway, Ireland)
2. Tralee, 1756: Shakespeare on the Atlantic Edge
Marc Caball (University College Dublin, Ireland) and Jason McElligott (Marsh's Library, Dublin, Ireland)
3. Gothic Protagonist, Romantic Icon, Irish Character? The Uses of Shakespeare in the Portrayal of Melmoth the Wanderer
Raphael Ingelbien and Benedicte Seynhaeve (KU Leuven, Belgium)
4. From Stratford to Galway: W. B. Yeats on Shakespeare
Neil Rhodes (University of St Andrews, UK)
5. Unquiet Ancestors: Beckett Reading Shakespeare through Synge and Joyce
Claudia Olk (LMU Munich, Germany)
6. Shakespeare Iconography in Victorian Belfast: Materiality, Industrialisation, Imperialism
Molly Quinn-Leitch(Queen's University Belfast, UK)
7. Seacspaoir sa Taibhdhearc: Irish Translations
Andrew Murphy (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
8. Shakespeare's Irish History Museum: Adapting Richard II
Stephen O'Neill ( National University of Ireland Maynooth)
9. Hamlet the Irishman: Irish Theatre Histories, Re-Invented and Re-Circulated
Patrick Lonergan (University of Galway, Ireland)
10. 'Great Liberties are Taken with the Action': Siobhan McKenna's 'Experimental Version' of Hamlet
Emer McHugh (Queen's University Belfast, UK)
11. 'Looks the Part': Conceptual Casting as Incomplete Adaptation in Corcadorca's Merchant of Venice (2005) and Terra Nova's Belfast Tempest (2016)
Justine Nakase (Independent scholar, USA)
12. 'To tell [Ireland's Shakespeare] story': Filmic Histories / Social Justice
Mark Thornton Burnett (Queen's University Belfast, UK)
Index