Dion Boucicault
Irish Identity on Stage

The first full critical study of Dion Boucicault, one of the most dynamic and influential figures in nineteenth-century theatre.

Deirdre McFeely (Author)

9781107007932, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 April 2012

228 pages, 5 b/w illus.
23.4 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.5 kg

'There is much to like in this well-researched study, which illuminates the international reception of some of Boucicault's best-known work. … students of Boucicault will find it a rich resource.' Nicholas Daly, Victorian Studies

Deirdre McFeely presents the first book-length critical study of Dion Boucicault, placing his Irish plays in the context of his overall career. The book undertakes a detailed examination of the reception of the plays in the New York-London-Dublin theatre triangle which Boucicault inhabited. Interpreting theatre history as a sociocultural phenomenon that closely approximates social history, McFeely examines the different social and political worlds in which the plays were produced, demonstrating that the complex politics of reception of the plays cannot be separated from the social and political implications of colonialism at that time. The study argues for a shift in focus from the politics of the plays, and their author, to the politics of the auditorium and the press, or the politics of reception. It is within that complex and shifting field of stage, theatre and public media that Boucicault's performance as playwright, actor and publicist is interpreted.

Introduction
1. Becoming Boucicault
2. Nationalism, race and class in The Colleen Bawn
3. Music, myth and censorship in Arrah-na-Pogue
4. Alternative readings: The Rapparee and Daddy O'Dowd
5. The politics of exile: The Shaughraun in New York
6. 'Audiences are not political assemblies': The Shaughraun in London
7. Supporting the Land League: The O'Dowd
Conclusion: towards an Irish national drama.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF], Plays, playscripts [DD], Theatre: individual actors & directors [ANB], Theatre studies [AN]