Nicholas Grene Livres

Exploring the thematic connections among Shakespeare's tragedies, this study highlights the interplay between power, authority, and gender roles across nine key plays. Nicholas Grene contrasts the mythic and visionary aspects with a more skeptical, analytical approach, emphasizing how these elements manifest in both sacred and secular contexts. Each tragedy is examined individually, while also drawing insightful parallels with companion plays, revealing the distinct imaginative processes that shaped Shakespeare's work without oversimplifying their complexities.

The Politics of Irish Drama explores around twenty-five notable Irish plays, spanning from Dion Boucicault to Sebastian Barry, offering insights into their political themes and cultural significance.

This scholarly work offers a fresh analysis of the two sequences of Shakespeare's English history plays, exploring their themes, character development, and historical context. It delves into the political and social dynamics of the time, revealing how these plays reflect and influence perceptions of English identity and monarchy. Through detailed examination, the author uncovers the complexities of Shakespeare's portrayal of power, conflict, and the human condition, inviting readers to reconsider the significance of these classic works in contemporary discussions of history and drama.

Tom Murphy shot to fame with the London production of A Whistle in the Dark in 1961, establishing him as the outstanding Irish playwright of his generation. The international success of DruidMurphy, the 2012-13 staging of three of his major plays by the Druid Theatre Company, served to underline his continuing appeal and importance. This is the first full scale academic study devoted to his theatre, providing an overview of all his work, with a detailed reading of his most significant texts. His powerful and searchingly honest engagement with Irish history and society is reflected in the violent Whistle in the Dark, the epic Famine (1968), the often hilarious Conversations on a Homecoming (1985) and the darkly Chekhovian The House (2000). Folklore and myth figure more prominently in the spiritual drama of The Sanctuary Lamp (1975), the Faustian Gigli Concert (1983) and the women's stories of Bailegangaire (1985). The range and reach of Murphy's theatre is demonstrated in this informed reading, supported by key interviews with the playwright himself and his most important theatrical and critical interpreters.

Nicholas Grene explores the subject of domestic spaces in modern drama through close readings of nine major plays.