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The International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures |
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| IASIL Newsletter 2004 special report - Abbey Centenary |
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Abbey Theatre Centenary The Abbey Theatre launched its centenary progamme on 19 November 2003. To mark this event, IASIL online provides information on: Abbey Theatre Productions 2004 Much of this information is also available on the Abbey Theatre Website. IASIL Online also has a full listing of Irish Theatre websites - check here. The 2004 IASIL Conference includes panels celebrating 100 years of the Abbey. Full details, including abstracts, is available here. |
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Abbey Theatre Productions, 2004 The Abbey's 2004 program breaks into five sections - a season of European Theatre, Summer at the Abbey, an "Abbey and Ireland" season that will see many of the Abbey's best plays produced, a series of new plays, and "the Abbey on tour". The European season runs from January to May, and has been programmed to coincide with the Irish presidency of the EU. The mainstage will host the Cherry Orchard (which is also 100 years old in 2004) in a new adaptation by Tom Murphy. This will be followed by The Burial at Thebes, adapted by Seamus Heaney from Antigone. It will be directed by Lorraine Pintal - and thus will be the third recent Abbey production of a Greek play directed by a woman (following the Deborah Warner Medea and Katie Mitchell's Iphegenia). And it is of course Heaney's second production at the Abbey, following his 1992 Field Day Cure at Troy. During the same period, the theatre will host visits by theatre companies from Poland, Slovenia, and Hungary. During the summer, the mainstage productions will be The Shaughran and The Playboy of the Western World, while the Peacock will stage Stewart Parker's Heavenly Bodies (which is about Boucicault). The inclusion of Boucicault at the centre of the Theatre's centenary celebrations is notable - suggesting that the Abbey is attempting to re-state its relationship to the Irish dramatic tradition that existed before 1904. Programming the Stewart Parker and Boucicault plays with the Playboy of the Western World is an interesting statement about the Abbey's sense of its own history. Also significant is the subject of Colm Toibin's first play, Beauty in a Broken Place, which will focus on Sean O'Casey's response to the Plough and the Stars controversy. Given the history of the Abbey's relationship with O'Casey - particularly their infamous rejection of The Silver Tassie - the staging of this play seems like a potentially significant gesture. The highlight of the year will be the Abbey's contribution to the 2004 Dublin Theatre Festival programme, when eight of the Abbey's best plays will be produced in repertory. Observe the Sons of Ulster, The Gigli Concert, and I Do Not Like Thee Doctor Fell will play on the mainstage. And at the Peacock, we will have a chance to see Drama at Inish, Riders to The Sea, Purgatory, The Dandy Dolls and Portia Coughlan. These will be accompanied by one-off readings of the work of Friel, TC Murray, Shaw, Gregory, Walter Macken, MJ Molloy, Sebastian Barry, and others. It's notable the the Theatre is celebrating its centenary not only by playing some of the Irish classics - the Playboy in particular - but also by restating its relationship with European theatre, producing Chekhov and hosting visits from central Europe. There's a nice balance between new and old - Yeats, Lady Gregory, Synge, and Lennox Robinson are all being produced, but we also have what are arguably the best plays of Frank McGuinness, Tom Murphy and Marina Carr. The centenary period will not simply be retrospective: new plays will also be produced. Paula Meehan's The Wolf of Winter will be a production for families. Peter Sheridan's Finders Keepers is a coming of age story set in inner city Dublin. Stuart Carolan is having his first play, The Defender of the Faith premiered - it's a black comedy about Northern Ireland, directed by Wilson Millam, who was responsible for McDonagh's Lieutenant of Inishmore. Eugene O'Brien follows up Eden with Savoy, a play about three men, again set in Edenderry. This was presented in a reading in early 2003, and is eagerly anticipated. Colm Toibin's play about O'Casey is discussed above. The year finishes with the return of Paul Mercier to the Abbey stage, after his very popular Down the Line. His new play Smokescreen will run during Christmas 2004. The Gigli Concert will tour to Australia, The Playboy of the Western World will tour Ireland and America, and The Plough and the Stars will play in London's Barbican theatre. More information and links will be included here as it becomes available. Full details of special events will be included here. At present, the following lectures are scheduled to take place at the Abbey:
Trinity College's OSCAR WILDE CENTRE is hosting a series of weekly lectures on the Abbey from January - March 2003, directed by IASIL Vice-President Nicholas Grene. Among the speakers will be Christopher Morash, Patrick Mason, Gerard Dawe, Declan Hughes and Anna McMullan. Full details are on the OWC website. Abbey Theatre Debates As part
of its abbeyonehundred celebrations during the Abbey & Europe Season,
the Abbey Theatre will host a series of Abbey Debates which will explore
the key challenges facing contemporary Irish and international theatre
in the 21st century. Taking
place in the Abbey Theatre, the three Debates (11am - 4.30pm) will feature
leading Irish and international theatre artists, academics and policymakers
who will discuss a range of issues, from national language and cultural
identity, both Irish and European, to the role of a national theatre
in the cultural and artistic life of the nation. Taking
place in the Abbey Theatre on Saturday 31st January, during the visit
of Poland's Teatr Rozmaitosci's production of Festen, the Abbey
Debate National Theatre & The Nation will explore key issues about
the role of a National Theatre in the artistic and cultural life of
the nation, and its future mission in an increasingly multicultural
society and theatre. Writer and critic Fintan O'Toole will convene the
panel of distinguished speakers that includes playwright Thomas Kilroy,
theatre and opera director Patrick Mason, American writer and academic
Erika Munk, writer and director Peter Sheridan, and theatre director
Lynne Parker. The second
debate takes place on Saturday 20th March 2004, and considers “National
Language & Identity “. The convenor is Dr Angela Bourke. Panellists
include: Lorraine Pintal, Paul Mercier, Tomás MacAnna, Laszlo
Marton and Domenec Reixach The third
and final debate takes place on Saturday15 May 2004, and has the theme
of “Memory & Repertoire”. Its convenor is Professor Ciarán
Benson, and panellists include Declan Donnellan, Ailbhe Smyth, Declan
McGonagle, Helen Meaney, Herbert Blau and Gerry Stembridge More information
is available on the Abbey Theatre
website. All dates and details should be confirmed with the Abbey
before booking/attendance.
News - Funding and Staffing Crisis The Abbey Theatre celebrates its centenary in 2004. The year has however involved a series of crises in relation to funding, which, on 2 September 2004 resulted in the announcement that the theatre will shed up to one-third of its staff. Reports from Irish news, radio, and TV are included below: RTE TV News - http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0902/6news/6news56_7.smil - explains the background to the problem, and interviews Abbey MD Brian Jackson and critic Fintan O'Toole (real player required to view pictures - go to http://www.real.com) Actor Alan Stanford talks to RTE radio's Five Seven Live- http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0902/57live/57live7b.smil (real player required to view pictures - go to http://www.real.com) The Irish Theatre Magazine online newsletter provides an overview of the crises that have affected the Abbey during 2004, and discusses the success of John McColgan's production of the Shaughran http://www.irishtheatremagazine.ie/newsletter/newsletter.htm Bruce Arnold of the Irish Independent suggests that the crisis arises due to a triple crisis of "management, including funding", artistic direction, and confidence. http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=36&si=1244072&issue_id=11373 (free site but registration required) A news report from The Irish Independent provides an overview of the financial difficulties: "The Old Lady Says Go": http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1244174&issue_id=11373 More extensive reporting is available on the Irish Times website, but registration and payment are required to access. The Abbey Theatre website - http://www.abbeytheatre.ie
The 2004 IASIL Conference includes panels dedicated to celebrating the centenary of the Abbey - click HERE for more information. There is a full list of Irish Theatre related websites on this website - go here. |
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