Description
Book SynopsisThe first book to document grass roots popular theatres which developed from within the working class Republican and Loyalist communities of Belfast and Derry during the latest phase of the four hundred year conflict between Ireland and Britain.
Trade Review
‘...a valuable document about grassroots, working-class community theatre in Northern Ireland.’
‘...methodologically sound and historically extremely interesting.’
The Journal of Theatre Research International, Sruti Bala, Volume 35/1 – 2010
‘It is of course particularly difficult to recapture performances by community theatres.’
‘McDonnell’s book is a superb example of how such difficulties can be overcome.’
‘One of the text’s most appealing characteristics is the constant sense that McDonnell is deeply engaged with the material he is researching: he is himself an important presence in the book.’
Contemporary Theatre Review, Volume 19(4), 2009, Patrick Lonergan
‘Of vital importance for students and researchers interested in the politics of theatre in the UK and Ireland… a significant contribution to the body of scholarship….compelling...a timely book, providing a provocative perspective on political theatre during the first decade of the new century as well as drawing attention to a neglected and important period of theatre history’.
New Theatre Quarterly, 2010, Jenny Hughes
‘McDonnell’s excellent book…. opening up a fascinating terrain for future scholars… stands as a testament to the courage of communities making work in the face of political crisis, and equally speaks to the methodological challenges of thinking through the tensions and contradictions in the work of living theatre’.
‘McDonnell [...] offers an extremely useful resource for scholars, drawing from previously unused archival sources’
The Drama Review, Volume 56, No 2, Summer 2012, Aoife Monks
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Chronology of Key Events
Glossary of Terms
1. Introduction
2. The Historical Context
3. 'Gentle Fury': Father Des and the People's Theatre
4. 'At the Heart of the Struggle': the plays of Belfast Community Theatre
5. 'From Pedagogy of the Oppressed to Theatre of the Oppressed': the H Block Theatres
6. Derry Frontline: a template for liberation
7. Staging the Peace (1) Dubbeljoint at Amharclann na Carraige
8. Staging the Peace (2) the plays of Laurence McKeown and Brian Campbell
9. 'Not a Profession but a Movement': politics, theatre and Republicanism
10. 'Only Catholics Combine': Loyalism and theatre
11. Last Words
Bibliography
