Interview with Christina Reid

Interview by Mária Kurdi.Interview by Mária Kurdi

Ondrej Pilny. Irony and Identity in Modern Irish Drama

Ondrej Pilny. Irony and Identity in Modern Irish Drama. Prague: LitterariaPragensia, 2006. pp. 186

Teenagers’ “Gender Trouble” and Trickster Aesthetics in Gina Moxley’s Danti Dan

Recently a type of drama has emerged in Ireland with characters representing isolated social groups that were overlooked or considered as marginal. It includes plays with teenagers as protagonists, conceived by writers who seem to be inspired by the realization that the treatment of, and possibilities for children and youth are indicators of a society’s moral health. Christina Reid’s Joyriders (1986), Brownbread (1986) by Roddy Doyle, and Enda Walsh’s DiscoPigs (1996) are a few notable examples. Danti Dan, Gina Moxley’s 1995 play is set in rural Ireland during the summer of 1970, with the parents not yet conscious of the fact that their children respond to a rapidly changing world and its sexual challenges in ways very different from the traditional patterns.The present paper applies the trickster aesthetics as its main theoretical position, to create a discursive space for the investigation of a set of issues surrounding and underpinning the central concern of the play, the “gender trouble” of teenagers in the particular Irish context which has a still largely patriarchal structure. As a parallel, the analysis relies on the trickster signification in Toni Morrison’s novel Sula (1973), deploys the feminist psychology of Nancy Chodorow, and draws from Teresa Lauretis’s discussion of gender representation in “Technologies of Gender.”Recently a type of drama has emerged in Ireland with characters representing isolated social groups that were overlooked or considered as marginal. It includes plays with teenagers as protagonists, conceived by writers who seem to be inspired by the realization that the treatment of, and possibilities for children and youth are indicators of a society’s moral health. Christina Reid’s Joyriders (1986), Brownbread (1986) by Roddy Doyle, and Enda Walsh’s DiscoPigs (1996) are a few notable examples. Danti Dan, Gina Moxley’s 1995 play is set in rural Ireland during the summer of 1970, with the parents not yet conscious of the fact that their children respond to a rapidly changing world and its sexual challenges in ways very different from the traditional patterns.The present paper applies the trickster aesthetics as its main theoretical position, to create a discursive space for the investigation of a set of issues surrounding and underpinning the central concern of the play, the “gender trouble” of teenagers in the particular Irish context which has a still largely patriarchal structure. As a parallel, the analysis relies on the trickster signification in Toni Morrison’s novel Sula (1973), deploys the feminist psychology of Nancy Chodorow, and draws from Teresa Lauretis’s discussion of gender representation in “Technologies of Gender.

Samuel Beckett’s Drama in Hungarian Theatre History and Criticism before 1990

The international and intercultural aspects of Samuel Beckett’s theatre have been widely recognised by an increasing number of scholarly works in the last few decades. This article offers a study of the pre-1990 reception of Beckett’s drama and theatre in Hungarian criticism and literary and theatre histories. Its focus is on critical and theoretical investigations of three of Beckett’s masterpieces for the stage, Waiting for Godot (1953), Endgame (1957), and Happy Days (1961), provided by Hungarian authors in Hungary or in Hungarian-language forums of the neighbouring countries. While mentioning all the premieres of the three masterpieces in Hungary during the given period, the article surveys and compares only those ideas across the various theatre reviews, which contribute to the Hungarian critical reception of Beckett and the selected works. To place the addressed pre-1990 Hungarian studies and reviews in the broader field, the article is framed by references to some relevant writings of international Beckett scholars