Language

Abstract

English spoken in Ireland is made unique by the influence of and translation from the Irish language and in this process becomes inherently theatrical in its strangeness, intensity and immediacy. Irish playwrights have exploited this and the tradition of storytelling in Ireland with its power to create communion amongst characters and audiences. The unique phrases and rhythms of Hiberno-English have been employed to adapt works written in other languages to register the similarities and differences of other cultures. The three frameworks and accompanying case studies that model the application of these critical lenses to key theatre productions are: (i) Hiberno-English: An Untamed Language for the Stage (Enda Walsh’s Disco Pigs); (ii) Storytelling: A Language Searching for Community (Conor McPherson’s The Weir); and (iii) Adaptation and Heteroglossia (Lucy Caldwell’s version of Chekhov’s Three Sisters).