Space

Abstract

With Ireland’s division into two territories under different governance, its geographic location at the edge of Europe and its colonial history where its people were dispossessed of their land, it is perhaps unsurprising that space, as a mode of meaning-making in performance, is a key feature of Irish theatre. This chapter examines how space functions in Irish theatre, contextualising cultural and political considerations of space; showing how these contexts can be read into the dramaturgies of theatrical productions and site-specific performances. The three frameworks and accompanying case studies that model the application of these critical lenses are: The Home Place (Stewart Parker’s Pentecost). Liminal Spaces (Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats). Sites of Performance/Non-theatre Spaces (ANU’s The Boys of Foley Street).