Summary: John Millington Synge was a leading literary figure of the Irish Revival who played a significant role in the founding of Dublin's Abbey Theatre in 1904. This companion offers an introduction to the whole range of Synge's work from well-known plays like Riders to the Sea, The Well of the Saints and The Playboy of the Western World, to his influential prose work The Aran Islands. The essays provide analyses of individual texts, as well as reflections on his engagements with the Irish language, processes of decolonisation, gender, modernism and European culture. Critical accounts of landmark productions in Ireland and America are also included. With a guide to further reading and a chronology, this book will introduce students of drama, postcolonial studies, and Irish studies as well as theatregoers to one of the most influential and controversial dramatists of the twentieth century. pt. 1. The Synge texts. Re-thinking Synge / P.J. Mathews -- The Shadow of the glen and Riders to the sea / Oona Frawley -- The playboy of the western world / Shaun Richards -- The well of the saints and The tinker's wedding / Mary Burke -- The Aran Islands and the travel essays / Elaine Sisson -- Deirdre of the sorrows / Declan Kiberd -- pt. 2. Theorising Synge. J.M. Synge: European encounters / Ben Levitas -- Synge and the Irish language / Alan Titley -- Synge and gender / Susan Cannon Harris -- Postcolonial Synge / C.L. Innes -- Synge and Irish modernism / Greogry Dobbins -- pt. 3. Synge on stage. Synge in performance / Nicholas Grene -- J.M. Synge in America / Brenda Murphy -- Synge and contemporary Irish drama / Anthony Roche -- Select bibliography.
Synge, J. M., (John Millington), 1871-1909 -- Criticism and interpretation