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The spellbinding premiere of The Weir at the Royal Court in 1997 wasthe first of many works to bring Conor McPherson to the attention ofthe theatre-going public. Acclaimed plays followed, including Shining City , The Seafarer , The Night Alive and Girl from the North Country , garneringinternational acclaim and being regularly produced around the globe.McPherson has also had significant successes as a theatre director, filmdirector and screenwriter, most notably, with his award-winning screenplayfor I Went Down.This companion offers a detailed and engaging critical analysis of theplays and films of Conor McPherson. It considers issues of gender and classdisparity, violence and wealth in the cultural and political contexts in whichthe work is written and performed, as well as the inclusion of song, sound,the supernatural, religious and pagan festive sensibilities through whichinitial genre perceptions are nudged elsewhere, towards the unconscious andineffable. Supplemented by a number of contributed critical and performanceperspectives, including an interview with Conor McPherson, this is a bookto be read by theatre audiences, performance-makers and students who wishto explore, contextualize and situate McPherson''s provocative, exquisite andgeneration-defining writings and performances.>
About the author
Eamonn Jordan is Associate Professor in Drama Studies at the School of English, Drama and Film, University College Dublin. His many publications on Irish theatre include: The Feast of Famine: The Plays of Frank McGuinness (1997); Theatre Stuff: Critical Essays on Contemporary Irish Theatre (2000); The Theatre of Martin McDonagh: A World of Savage Stories (co-edited with Lilian Chambers, 2006); Dissident Dramaturgies: Contemporary Irish Theatre (2010); The Theatre of Conor McPherson:'Right beside the Beyond' (co-edited with Lilian Chambers, 2012); From Leenane to LA: The Theatre and Cinema of Martin McDonagh (2014), and The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Irish Theatre (co-edited with Eric Weitz, 2017).Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. is professor of theatre arts at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA, the author and editor of ten books including The Empire Triumphant: Race, Religion and Rebellion in the Star Wars Films, and a contributor to numerous volumes on sci-fi, pop culture and religion, including essays on Godzilla, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica. His areas of expertise include Japanese theatre, African theatre, Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, stage combat and comedy. He is co-editor with Patrick Lonergan of Bloomsbury Methuen Drama's Critical Companions series.Patrick Lonergan is Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at University of Galway, Ireland.
