The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary Irish Playwrights

In the UK alone there are 16,000 students of A level drama, while Irish playwrights are a popular study option in the US All of the big name and emerging playwrights from the last fifty years explored and analysed in one volume Written by a host of academics who are the leading authorities on their subject A highly readable and economical introduction to a broad sweep of Irish drama

This is an authoritative single-volume guide to the work of twenty-five Irish playwrights from the 1960s to the present written by a team of twenty-five eminent scholars from Ireland, the USA, Britain and Germany. It is the perfect companion for students of Irish literature and drama.The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary Irish Playwrights is an authoritative guide to the work of twenty-five playwrights from the last 50 years whose work has helped to shape and define Irish theatre. Written by a team of international scholars, it provides an illuminating survey and analysis of each writer's plays and will be invaluable to anyone interested in, studying or teaching contemporary Irish drama. The playwrights examined range from John B. Keane, Brian Friel and Tom Murphy, to the crop of writers who emerged in the 1990s and who include Martin McDonagh, Marina Carr, Emma Donoghue and Mark O'Rowe. Each essay features: a biographical sketch and introduction to the playwright a discussion of their most important plays an analysis of their stylistic and thematic traits, the critical reception and their place in the discourses of Irish theatre a bibliography of texts and critical material With a total of 190 plays discussed in detail, over half of which were written during the 1990s and 2000s, The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary Irish Playwrights is unrivalled in its study of recent plays and playwrights.