Working-Class Women in Irish Literature and Theatre: Emerging from the Silence

Working-Class Women in Irish Literature and Theatre critically engages with works of theatre both by and about working-class women, historically and presently. Addressing professional and community theatre productions, from both textual and performative perspectives, this volume focuses on works of theatre by practitioners, directors, playwrights, and performance artists across rural and urban contexts. Irish theatre has a long history of signifying social class. Yet the representations of working-class women in Irish theatrical history also encompass several problematic issues, starting with the fact that these depictions were created by male writers like J. M Synge and Seán O'Casey to name but a few. Nonetheless, the theatre’s emphasis on embodied performance and its ability to reach its public in an unmediated way has attracted working-class engagement perhaps more than other art forms in Ireland. Contemporary playwrights in the Republic and the north of Ireland have tirelessly striven to illuminate working-class women’s lived experiences and have reframed the characterisation of working-class women by drawing out the intersection of social class with sexualities, ethnic minorities, and racial identities. This edited collection also includes the voices of directors, playwrights, and performers who identify with a working-class social background, offering first-hand accounts of their lived experience in the theatre industry.