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PANEL PRESENTATION -Bringing the past into present day Ireland
Dr. Munira
H. Mutran
Ms Zoraide Mesquita
Ms. Sandra Mary Stevens
Our
panel proposes to talk about how four contemporary Irish playwrights
have delved into the past and brought back some of those earlier elements
and used them in their plays written in the twentieth and twenty first
centuries.
The
Bacchae’s nightmare and its significance for Ireland
If myth is regarded as a dream of the human race, why do
two Irish playwrights, in the last decade of the twentieth century
and in the beginning of the twenty first, feel the need to show the
conflict involving Apollo and Dionysus? Derek Mahon’s The Bacchae
(1991) and Colin Teevan’s Bacchai (2002) two recent translations of
Euripides’ most famous tragedy, seem to be a close rendering of the
source-text. However, on further analysis, they reveal misreadings
of Euripedes in terms of conceptions, characters and themes. This
paper proposes to discuss the process of appropriation of the Greek
text and the relevance of its appeal and dilemmas for Ireland today.
Myths
today
Marina Carr’s interest in myths can be observed in By the
Bog of Cats as well as in Ariel: the first, a version of Euripides’
tragedy Medea, and the other one based on Iphigenia at Aulis, by the
same author. This paper will focus on the main differences between
this contemporary play, Ariel (2002), and Iphigenia at Aulis, written
in the fifth century B.C.: the sense of destiny upon the heroine’s
accepted sacrifice in the name of her nation’s grandeur and pride
in the Greek play has its counterpart in Ariel’s death determined
by her father’s will in search of individual power.
Camelot
comes to Wexford, Ireland
According to Billy Roche himself, the idea for his little
band of twentieth century shoemakers from his play The Cavalcaders
(1994) was drawn from the legends of Camelot. My aim is to search
into how and why the medieval elements are used in this contemporary
play and which is the relevance of bringing this legend into today’s
world. Is the legend the point of departure or does the play follow
the myth closely? Terry and Arthur are betrayed by their wives and
in both cases the betrayal has been with their best friends. We find
destruction brought on by the fatal woman who shatters the fidelity
and camaraderie amongst men. Arthur and Terry look back with sadness
as they remember the good and exciting times they had with their friends.
There is a longing for the good old days which will never return because
of The White Goddess.
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