The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary Irish Playwrights - (Guides to Contemporary Drama) by Martin Middeke & Peter Paul Schnierer (Paperback)

About the Book

An authoritative, single-volume guide to the work of twenty-five Irish playwrights from the 1960s to the present, written by a team of twenty-five eminent scholars contributing individual studies to the work of each playwright.

Book Synopsis

The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary Irish Playwrights is an authoritative guide to the work of twenty-five playwrights from the last 50 years whose work has helped to shape and define Irish theatre. Written by a team of international scholars, it provides an illuminating survey and analysis of each writer's plays and will be invaluable to anyone interested in, studying or teaching contemporary Irish drama.

The playwrights examined range from John B. Keane, Brian Friel and Tom Murphy, to the crop of writers who emerged in the 1990s and who include Martin McDonagh, Marina Carr, Emma Donoghue and Mark O'Rowe. Each essay features:

a biographical sketch and introduction to the playwright

a discussion of their most important plays

an analysis of their stylistic and thematic traits, the critical reception and their place in the discourses of Irish theatre

a bibliography of texts and critical material

With a total of 190 plays discussed in detail, over half of which were written during the 1990s and 2000s, The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary Irish Playwrights is unrivalled in its study of recent plays and playwrights.

Review Quotes

"Enlightening essays....commendably well-researched...thorough content does not detract from [its]readability." --The Stage

"Something of an elegy for a period of theatrical flowering. For several decades, it seemed that Irish dramatists were the most interesting writing in English. Brian Friel and Tom Murphy were magisterial; Frank McGuiness and Anne Devlin were sharp, spry and frequently maverick; Martin McDonagh and Marina Carr looked to extend a tradition of wild and witchy imaginings...This book is more than a reminder of the riches of recent decades." --Plays International

About the Author

Professor Martin Middeke is Chair of English Literature at the University of Augsburg, Germany, Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg and editor of the publications from the German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English. Professor Peter Paul Schnierer is Chair of English Literature at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.