Readers familiar with recent Irish theatre will most likely identify this scenario as referring to the Abbey’s 2017 production of Deevy’s play. Her production seemed an imaginative attempt to start addressing the inequalities in Irish theatre that had been identified when the #wakingthefeminists campaign began in 2015. When viewed over a 70-year span, Irish theatre seemed to progress not in a straight line but in a series of waves - pushing Irish society to change for the better, only to be pushed back. This is not to suggest that the history of Irish theatre is like Waiting for Godot writ large, with the same things happening repeatedly, ad nauseam. Of course, it’s also worth noting that if the Abbey were staging more classic Irish plays, they’d have to hire more Irish actors.

Source: The Irish Times May 18, 2019 04:52 UTC