By Anne F. O'Reilly

'Theatre as a space or container for sacred play allows audiences to glimpse mystery and to experience transformation. This book charts how Irish playwrights negotiate the labyrinth of the Irish soul and shows how their plays contribute to a poetics of Irish culture that enables a new imagining. Playwrights discussed are: McGuinness, Murphy, Friel, Le Marquand Hartigan, Burke Brogan, Harding, Meehan, Carr, Parker, Devlin, and Barry.'

ISBN 1-904505-07-4
€25

About the book:

‘Artists and playwrights who are not afraid to go to their own edge, to face their own madness, confusion, desire for revenge, alongside their desire for transformation and renewal, can present us with very important characters, whom we recognise as our selves. McGuinness’s characters in liminal spaces, Murphy’s outsiders, Friel’s broken and lost women and men, Carr’s driven protagonists, are all searching for a way of coming home, of being heard and seen. In the empty space of theatre, their stories can be told, their suffering given voice, their often neglected, overshadowed or shamed and belittled lives embodied in performance. In the space of theatre, audiences can experience themselves in a crucible of transformation’.
Anne O'Reilly

'This is a book of insight and imagination. It is a literary tour de force, where 28 Irish plays are examined and their rich cultural context exposed in a way that educates and excites. To read Anne O’Reilly’s analysis leaves one longing to return to the theatre and to play. While the text is utterly readable, the ideas shared are profound.

The theme ‘journey’ is common in every play but it is explored from different angles; we glimpse understandings of the soul, of self, of healing, of sacred meaning, of the possible, even of transformation. 

'This is a book of insight and imagination. It is a literary tour de force. . . To read Anne O’Reilly’s analysis leaves one longing to return to the theatre and to play. While the text is utterly readable, the ideas shared are profound . . .One of the captivating aspects of this book is that, while it’s about plays and their stories, it also challenges the reader to rethink and re-imagine his/her own story. It is indeed a literary work of art.'

Ann Louise Gilligan

 Table of Contents

Introduction
Theatre as temenos
Theatre as Alternative Sacred Space
Interpretive Lenses
Soul-Journeys
Thematic Overview of Chapters 

1 | Journeys Through Memory
Baglady, Frank McGuinness (1985)
Bailegangaire, Tom Murphy (1985)
Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel (1990)
Tea in a China Cup, Christina Reid (1983)
La Corbière, Anne Le Marquand Hartigan (1989)
Eclipsed, Patricia Burke Brogan (1992)
Conclusion

2 | Journeys Through Ritual
The Sanctuary Lamp, Tom Murphy (1975)
Misogynist, Michael Harding (1990)
Someone who will watch over me, Frank McGuinness (1992)
Cell, Paula Meehan (1999)
Wonderful Tennessee, Brian Friel (1993)            Conclusion   

3| Journeys into the Dark
The Mai, Marina Carr (1994)
Portia Coughlan, Marina Carr (1996)
By The Bog of Cats, Marina Carr (1998)
On Raftery’s Hill, Marina Carr (2000)
Ariel, Marina Carr (2002)
Conclusion 

4| Journeys of Transformation
Faith Healer, Brian Friel (1979)
The Gigli Concert, Tom Murphy (1983)
Innocence: The Life and Death of Michelangelo Merisi,Caravaggio, Frank McGuinness (1986)
Mrs. Sweeney, Paula Meehan (1997)
The Lonesome West, Martin McDonagh (1997) 

5| Journeys and Vision
After Easter, Anne Devlin (1994)
Pentecost, Stewart Parker (1987)
Prayers of Sherkin, Sebastian Barry (1990)
Una Pooka, Michael Harding (1989)
Carthaginians, Frank McGuinness (1988) 

Conclusion:
Sacred Play and the Imagination of the Possible
Bibliography
Index

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