Output details

The Utopian Performative in Post-Ceasefire Northern Irish Theatre

This submission is primarily the essay ‘The Utopian Performative in Post-Ceasefire Northern Irish Theatre’. The supporting material is the introduction to the volume, and the editing of the collection.

This project began as a symposium, ‘Acts of Aggression: Performing Violence on the Contemporary Irish Stage’, which I convened in November 2006. The papers addressed the performance of violence in theatrical performance, comedy and opera. However, it was clear from the discussion that there was scope for a greater interdisciplinary engagement and the edited collection attempts to address through the inclusion of work on public protest and commemoration.

This interdisciplinary collection of essays explores the aural and visual representation of violence, the ethics and aesthetics of violence in live performance, and violence in relation to the performance of space and place in a conflict and post-conflict society. The methodological range of the essays is structured as two related book sections: the first of which is largely concerned with staging strategies and aesthetics, and the second with situated and socially engaged performance practices. The collection seeks to connect key issues in the performance of violence in Ireland with international scholarly discourses on violence in performance and on performance and conflict societies.