Politics and Performance in Contemporary Northern Ireland

In the charged political atmosphere of Northern Ireland, where two national identities compete for recognition and support, symbolic manifestations of the struggle are everywhere evident. They continue beyond as well as within the confines of the theater. Stage actors and social actors, playwrights and politicians give performances scripted to confirm and consolidate their particular definition of political reality.

In this interdisciplinary volume, scholars from Northern Ireland, the United States, Canada, and England examine the junctures of politics and performance in contemporary Northern Ireland. Four of the chapters are about performances that are intended primarily for live theater or television. The remaining five describe dramatic struggles played out in the pubs and drinking clubs of Protestant Ulster, local district councils, political organizations, the police force, and even the memories of young people.

Symbolic struggle is particularly important during the current period of fragile cease-fires and brokered agreements in Northern Ireland. With the diminution of paramilitary action, more attention now focuses on symbolic performances. Each of the nine essays in this book tells us in its own distinct voice how the story of political conflict is constructed, manipulated, portrayed, and remembered.

By juxtaposing essays on theatrical performance alongside social scientific analyses, the editors remind us of the reflexivity of political life in Northern Ireland. Taken together, the essays show how individuals have been shaped by the historical context of the Troubles and how they have used their performances, in the theater and on the stage of daily life, to define identities, reinforce ideologies, and build institutional support.

Contributors include Jennifer C. Cornell, Maureen S. G. Hawkins, William A. Hazleton, Helen Lojek, Roger Mac Ginty, James White McAuley, Marilynn Richtarik, Mícheál D. Roe, William Pegg, Kim Hodges, Rebecca A. Trimm, and Bill Rolston.

John P. Harrington is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at The Cooper Union and an expert on the Irish theater. A sociologist by training, Elizabeth J. Mitchell is an independent scholar who has written on class and ethnicity in Northern Ireland.