Performing other Irelands : 'race', politics and contemporary Irish theatre

Abstract

At a time of unprecedented economic upheaval and extraordinarily rapid social transformation, this thesis considers the representation of ‘race’ on the contemporary Irish stage during the Celtic Tiger years. The productions under consideration are not simply mirror reflections of an emerging multicultural society nor are they merely political protest in theatrical form. They rather explicate and challenge the racialised construction of both ‘non-Native’ and ‘Irish’ identity and, therefore, perform the possibility of an Other, more inclusive Ireland.