Sean O'Casey in Context

Sean O'Casey is one of Ireland's best-known playwrights. This book examines his work from a range of new, varying perspectives.

James Moran (Edited by)

9781009304207, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 July 2025

492 pages
23.5 x 16 x 3.1 cm, 0.85 kg

Sean O'Casey is one of Ireland's best-known writers. He is the most frequently performed playwright in the history of the Irish National Theatre, and his work is often revived onstage elsewhere. O'Casey is also widely studied in schools, colleges, and universities in the English-speaking world. This book offers a new contextualisation of this famous writer's work, revisiting his association with Irish nationalism, historical revisionism, and celebrated contemporaries such as W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory. The volume also brings O'Casey's work into contact with topics including disability studies, gender and sexuality, post-colonialism, ecocriticism, and race. Sean O'Casey in Context explores a number of existing ideas about O'Casey in the light of new academic developments, and updates our understanding of this important writer by taking into account recent scholarly thinking and a range of theatrical productions from around the globe.

Part I. Key Places and Events: 1. Dublin Diarmaid Ferriter
2. The Irish Revolution Fearghal McGarry
3. London Lloyd Meadhbh Houston
4. The Second World War Susan Cannon Harris
5. Devon Christopher Collins
Part II. Social Contexts: 6. Nationalism Eugene McNulty
7. Class Michael Pierse
8. Censorship Brad Kent
9. Women Michelle Paull
10. Gender and sexuality Jodie Marley
11. Disability Elizabeth Grubgeld
12. Race James Moran
13. Migration Whitney Standlee
14. Religion Vicki Mahaffey
15. Loss Miriam Haughton and Louise Lowe
Part III. Collaborators and Critics:16. W. B. Yeats Charles Armstrong
17. Lady Gregory Eglantina Remport
18. Bernard Shaw Nelson O'Ceallaigh Ritschel
19. Eileen Carey (Eileen O'Casey) James Moran
20. Tomás Mac Anna Alan Titley
21. Seamus Deane Joe Cleary
22. Garry Hynes Patrick Lonergan
23. Theatrical emulators Eamonn Jordan
Part IV. Performance Legacies: 24. The Abbey Theatre Chris Morash
25. The Irish stage Barry Houlihan
26. The English stage Peter Harris
27. Onstage in the USA Tara Stubbs
28. The French stage Alexandra Poulain
29. The German stage Dieter Fuchs
30. The Central European stage Ondřej Pilný
31. The biography in performance Soudabeh Ananisarab
Part V. Non-Theatrical Writings: 32. The autobiographies Emmet O'Connor
33. The letters Christopher Murray
34. Poetry, short stories, journalism and non-fiction Niall Carson
Part VI. Critical Understandings: 35. Seriality Thirza Wakefield
36. Experimentalism Victor Merriman
37. Modernism Jean Chothia
38. Revisionism Shaun Richards
39. Postcolonialism Mark Quigley
40. Ecocriticism Eoin Flannery
41. Tragedy Nicholas Grene.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]