Performance, Modernity and the Plays of J. M. Synge (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781108487795)

Irish Revivalist playwright J. M. Synge is often regarded as a realist. Yet what happens when his work is analysed through wider performance studies and situated alongside less familiar historical contexts? By addressing this question, H l ne Lecossois offers new and valuable perspectives on Synge's plays while at the same time engaging with the complexity of his treatment of a range of performance practices - from keening at rural funerals to the performances of 'native villagers' in the entertainment section of International Exhibitions. What emerges from her study is a dramatist acutely aware of the ability of theatre in performance to counteract relentless forward-moving narratives of modernity. Through detailed, contextualized case studies, the book simultaneously makes meaningful contributions to performance studies and opens up theoretical questions of performance relating to the status of the object on stage, the body on stage and theatrical time.

Author: Helene Lecossois
ISBN-10: 1108487793
ISBN-13: 9781108487795
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 11/26/2020
Pages: 250
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.07lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.56d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2021