DBLN3010W

Irish playwrights have contributed disproportionately to the output of English-language drama over the course of the 20th century, creating some of the most memorable dramatic literature of the last hundred years. With that in mind, this intensive practical playwriting course will interrogate the tradition of theatrical writing in the Irish capital of Dublin by engaging comprehensively with a variety of modes and disciplines specific to the act of writing for the Irish stage. Contemporary Dublin has undergone an unprecedented process of modernization rarely seen in the developed world, with the city becoming in just twenty years a multicultural, cosmopolitan space that is embracing provocative ways of seeing and creating work meant for theatrical performance. Questions about the relevancy of the practice of writing in creating performance, how authorship of a play is determined, and the slipperiness of language are now at the heart of Irish theatre?s drive to redefine itself. Challenged by a wide range of disciplinary approaches to writing and rewriting, students will be exposed to a host of methodologies for creating dramatic literature for the stage specific to this unique moment in Irish theatrical history and, in the process, gain an appreciation for the important role writers still play in making theatrical performance.