Frank Mcguinness

CA Prize-winner 2011: Frank McGuinness The seventh annual Classical Association Prize was presented at the Association Dinner, held on the last evening of this year’s conference on Sunday 17 April at Durham’s Radisson Hotel. The Prize was awarded to Frank McGuinness, playwright, poet and Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature at University College Dublin, in recognition of his adaptations of classical tragedies for the modern stage. Professor McGuinness is well known for his plays on modern Irish historical and social themes, notably The Factory Girls, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, and Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me. But over the past fifteen years he has also produced adaptations of a number of classical tragedies – Sophocles’ Electra and Oedipus the King, Euripides’ Hecuba and Helen, and Jean Racine’s Phaedra – performed variously in London, at the National Theatre, the Globe, and the Donmar, and on Broadway. All these productions have been critical and popular successes, Professor McGuinness’ texts being praised by reviewers as offering “a fast, snappy take on the story”, “sharp and staccato, with a real muscular vitality”, and articulating the plays’ relevance to modern-day audiences, without labouring the modern parallels. If you have not yet made it to one of Professor McGuinness’ plays, the scripts have all been published and are available through standard outlets, but we can also look forward to the major production he is currently working on, an operatic version of all three of Sophocles’ Theban plays, with a score by Julian Anderson, for performance by the English National Opera in 2013. Professor McGuinness’ plays are clearly in the front rank of works which promote Greece and Rome to a modern audience, placing them firmly within the Prize’s frame as “a significant contribution to the public understanding of Classics”. The £5000 cheque was presented by the outgoing President, Professor Christopher Rowe, after which Professor McGuinness made a short but moving speech of acceptance. Dr Emma Stafford (University of Leeds) CA Hon. Secretary to Council 2011-2018 June 2011 .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Frank Mcguinness's the Match
Provided by the author(s) and NUI Galway in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title The Match Box by Frank McGuinness: programme note for Galway International Arts Festival Author(s) Lonergan, Patrick Publication Date 2015 Publication Lonergan, Patrick. (2015). The Match Box by Frank Information McGuinness: programme note for Galway International Arts Festival Galway International Arts Festival Programme. Publisher Galway International Arts Festival Link to publisher's http://www.giaf.ie/ version Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10379/6740 Downloaded 2021-09-25T22:02:29Z Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above. Frank McGuinness’s The Match Box “Grief softens the mind,” says Shakespeare’s great character Queen Margaret – it makes people “fearful and degenerate”. There’s only one valid response to such feelings, she claims: “Think on revenge and cease to weep.” In making those remarks, Margaret places herself in a long line of heroines whose desire for revenge is both glorious and horrifying. Her precursors are figures like Sophocles’ Electra and Euripides’ Hecuba; her ancestors include Hester Swayne in Marina Carr’s brutal By the Bog of Cats. All of those women choose vengeance over grief - and in doing so they go beyond good and evil, committing terrible acts that we can nevertheless understand and perhaps even admire. The plays that dramatize their stories are thus both mythic and intimate: they reveal aspects of the human condition that we all recognize (much as we might prefer not to), and they show how one person’s decisions can unravel a family, a society, or an entire world.
[Show full text]
Transnational Ireland on Stage: America to Middle East in Three Texts
Transnational Ireland on Stage: America to Middle East in Three Texts Wei H. Kao Introduction: Between the Local and the Global on the Irish Stage Historically, the comprehensive Anglicisation of Ireland from the early nineteenth century, and the geopolitical location of Ireland in Europe, have laid the foundations for more Irish participation on the world stage. The rapid globalisation process, however, has not fully removed the frustration buried deep in the Irish psyche about the country still being in partition, but it has encouraged many contemporary playwrights to express concerns regarding other areas that are just as troubled as the state of their country, despite the fact that the Northern Ireland issue is not yet fully resolved. It is noteworthy that globalisation, as the continuation of nineteenth- and twentieth-century imperialism in a new form, not only carries forward the exercise of colonial incursion but facilitates the oppressively homogenising effects on the less advantaged Other. This is partly due to the rise of critical theory to ‘productively complicate the nationalist paradigm’ by embarking on transnationalism since the 1970s.1 One consequence of this was to prompt reevaluations of existing cultural productions, thus initiating cross-cultural and interethnic dialogues that had usually been absent in colonial and Eurocentric establishments, and prompting the public to envisage the Other across both real and imagined borders. Even more significantly, the meaning of a text starts to shift if it is studied in an international context, and this applies particularly to a text in which the characters venture into unexplored territories and impel ‘meaning [to] transform as it travels’.2 The transformation of meanings is further accelerated by intercultural encounters that are motivated by globalisation that interconnects individuals and societies around the world.
[Show full text]
Canadian Association for Irish Studies 2019 Conference
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR IRISH STUDIES 2019 CONFERENCE IRISH BODIES AND IRISH WORLDS May 29 – June 1 CONFERENCE PROGRAMME John Molson School of Business Conference Centre, 9TH Floor Concordia University 1450 Guy Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8 We acknowledge that Concordia University is located on unceded Indigenous lands. The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of the lands and waters on which we gather today. Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. Today, it is home to a diverse population of Indigenous and other peoples. We respect the continued connections with the past, present and future in our ongoing relationships with Indigenous and other peoples within the Montreal community. MAY 29, 2019 Graduate Student Master-Class with Kevin Barry and Olivia Smith 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. School of Irish Studies, McEntee Reading Room (1455 boul. De Maisonneuve West, H 1001) Registration & Opening Reception 5:00 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. School of Irish Studies, McEntee Reading Room & Engineering Lab (1455 boul. De Maisonneuve West, H 1001 & H 1067) Exclusive Preview – Lost Children of the Carricks A documentary by Dr. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin Opening words by His Excellency Jim Kelly Ireland’s Ambassador to Canada and Dr. André Roy Dean of the Faculty of the Arts and Science 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (De Sève Cinema, 1400 Boulevard de Maisonneuve West, Ground Floor) MAY 30, 2019 Registration – 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. PANEL 1 – MORNING SESSION – 9:30 a.m.
[Show full text]
2014, Annual Report
ABBEY THE ABBEY at RE AMH A RCL A NN N A Ma INIS T RE A CH 2014 Annual Report 2014 ABBEY THEatRE AMHARCLANN NA MaINISTREACH 2014 Annual Report www.abbeytheatre.ie ABBEY THEatRE AMHARCLANN NA MAINISTREACH 2014 Annual Report Annual Report 2014 CONTENTS Chairman’s Welcome 6 Director's Report 10 Financial Overview 20 Our Impact 22 Artistic Programme 24 Awards 36 Literary Programme 38 Community & Education Programme 40 Talks 42 Artistic Development Programme 44 Abbey Theatre Archive 46 Celebrating 110 Years of the Abbey Theatre 47 Moments 48 Staff 62 Board of Directors 64 Supporters & Members 68 Gallery & Reviews 70 Financial Statements Extract 93 Annual Report 2014 As Ireland’s national theatre, our mission is to create a world class national theatre that actively engages with and reflects Irish society. The Abbey Theatre invests in, nurtures and promotes Irish theatre artists. We do this by placing the writer and theatre-maker at the heart of all that we do, commissioning and producing exciting new work and creating discourse and debate on the political, cultural and social issues of the day. Our aim is to present great theatre art in a national context so that the stories told on stage have a resonance with audiences and artists alike. The Abbey Theatre produces an ambitious annual programme of Irish and international theatre across our two stages and on tour in Ireland and internationally, having recently toured to Edinburgh, London, New York and Sydney. The Abbey Theatre is committed to building the Irish theatre repertoire, through commissioning and producing new Irish writing, and re-imagining national and international classics in collaboration with leading contemporary talent.
[Show full text]
The Worlding of Irish Studies
Wednesday American Irish-Argentines at a gathering in Venado Tuerto, c. 1920. (Roberto Landaburu Collection) Conference for Irish Studies The Worlding of Irish Studies Hosted by March 30 - April 3, 2016 University of Notre Dame acis.nd.edu 1 WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY march 30 march 31 april 1 april 2 april 3 9:00 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 9:00am–10:30am: 9:00am–10:30am: 9:00am–10:30am: 9:00am–10:30am: 10:00 a.m. PANEL 3 PANEL 6 PANEL 9 PANEL 12 10:30 a.m. 10:30am–11:00am: 10:30am–11:00am: 10:30am–11:00am: BREAK BREAK BREAK 11:00 a.m. 10:30am–12:00pm: 11:00am–12:30pm: 11:00am–12:30pm: 11:30 a.m. 11:00am–12:30pm: ANEL KEYNOTE KEYNOTE P 13 MARY E. DALY THOMAS BARTLETT 12:00 p.m. PANEL 7 McKenna Hall McKenna Hall 12:30 p.m. 12:00pm: REGISTRATION OPENS 12:30pm–2:00pm: 1:00 p.m. GRADUATE STUDENT 12:30pm–2:00pm: 12:30pm–2:00pm: LUNCH ACIS BUSINESS LUNCH 1:30 p.m. 1:00pm–2:30pm: EXECUTIVE COUNCIL LUNCH ON YOUR OWN LUNCH 2:00 p.m. PANEL 1 2:30 p.m. 2:00pm–3:30pm: 2:00pm–3:30pm: 2:00pm–3:30pm: 2:30pm–3:00pm REAK 3:00 p.m. B PANEL 4 PANEL 8 PANEL 10 3:30 p.m. 3:00pm–4:30pm: 3:30pm–4:00pm: 3:30pm–4:00pm: 3:30pm–4:00pm: BREAK BREAK BREAK 4:00 p.m.
[Show full text]
Cultural Identity in Contemporary Scottish and Irish Writing. Phd Thesis
Jackson, Ellen-Raïssa (1999) Cultural identity in contemporary Scottish and Irish writing. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2548/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] CULTURAL IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY SCOTTISH AND IRISH WRITING Ellen-Raissa Jackson Doctor of Philosophy UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE JANUARY 1999 Abstract This thesis looks at examples of contemporary Scottish and Irish writing using postcolonialism as a theoretical framework through which to illuminate their shared literary arguments, strategies and preoccupations. Through close readings, the comparative cultural critique of these two neighbouring nations addresses their marginal position in relation to a dominant English culture and their analogous position to other small, marginalised nations. This approach questions the tendency of postcolonial theory to subsume non-English cultural formations within the body of English Literature, rather than looking at countries with colonial histories within Europe. The thesis goes on to challenge the dominance of the novel in postcolonial critique by offering readings of other cultural modes as effective and influential forms of resistance.
[Show full text]
2015, Annual Report
ABBEY THEatRE AMHARCLANN NA MAINISTREACH 2015 annual report 2015 ANNUAL REPORT CONTENTS About 5 Chairman’s Welcome 6 2005 – 2015 at the Abbey Theatre 14 Overview 29 The Abbey Theatre in Numbers 30 2015 on Our Stages: Director’s Report 32 Artistic Programme 38 Awards 52 Literary 54 Community and Education 56 Abbey Talks 60 Green-Light Programme 63 Archive 66 Handbook of the Irish Revival 67 Diversifying our Income Streams 68 Staff 72 Board of Directors 74 Supporters and Members 80 Gallery and Reviews 83 Directors’ Report and Financial Statements 101 3 ABBEY THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 As Ireland’s national theatre, our mission is to create a world class national theatre that actively engages with and reflects Irish society. The Abbey Theatre invests in, nurtures and promotes Irish theatre artists. We do this by placing the writer and theatre-maker at the heart of all that we do, commissioning and producing exciting new work and creating discourse and debate on the political, cultural and social issues of the day. Our aim is to present great theatre art in a national context so that the stories told on stage have a resonance with artists and audiences alike. The Abbey Theatre produces an ambitious annual programme of Irish and international theatre across our two stages and on tour in Ireland and internationally, having recently toured to Belfast, Edinburgh, London, New York and Sydney. The Abbey Theatre is committed to building the Irish theatre repertoire, through commissioning and producing new Irish writing, and re-imagining national and international classics in collaboration with leading contemporary talent.
[Show full text]
ANNE GRIFFIN Sunday, May 3, 2020 May Sunday, 4:00 P.M
DESCHUTES PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION presents Author ANNE GRIFFIN BOYNE ©JOHN Sunday, May 3, 2020 4:00 p.m. Bend High Auditorium Get free tickets starting 4/18/2020 at www.dplfoundation.org and all libraries BOOK COVER: OLGA GRLIC OLGA COVER: BOOK An Interview with Anne Griffin A NOVEL IDEA Share with us your journey to ANI Discuss the end of your novel and the choices becoming a writer. you made to have Maurice end his life. ANNE GRIFFIN I started late into writing. I was 44 and GRIFFIN I deliberated over this ending. I wrote others, it was 2013. In my 20s I was a bookseller and store and imagined plenty, but I kept coming back to this. manager of Waterstones Booksellers, a wonderful At the time of writing, I studied academic papers and chain over on this side of the world. As a history journals on suicide in older people. And there they major I became a non-fiction buyer. But through were, these terribly lonely people, forgotten perhaps, the talent and temptations of my fiction buyer unloved maybe, but certainly broken-hearted who colleagues, I became hooked on Richard Russo, Mary decided to end their lives. Maurice’s ending wasn’t all Lawson, Anne Tyler, William Trevor, Sarah Waters, that easy to write and it was upsetting. But it felt as and Jonathan Coe, to name only a handful. I left if Maurice himself kept talking to me, telling me this bookselling at 30 and went into charity work, soon to was the right thing for him.
[Show full text]
Oedipus by Sophocles in a New Version by Frank Mcguinness
Oedipus by Sophocles in a new version by Frank McGuinness The National’s production 2 Synopsis of Oedipus 3 Sophocles – The Man and his Work 4 Ancient Greece 6 Theatre 6 The Origins of Greek Theatre 6 Theatre in the Athenian Golden Age 6 Tragedy 7 Comedy 8 Religion 9 The Growth of Democracy 10 History Timeline 11 Map of Ancient Greece 12 Creating Oedipus 13 Interview with Derek Barnes (Musical Director on Oedipus and member of the Chorus) and Christopher Saul (member of the Chorus) 13 Interview with Denni Sayers (Movement Director) 15 Interview with Jonathan Kent 17 Photo (Ralph Fiennes) by Jillian Edelstein Further Exploratory Tasks and Exercises 19 Bibliography and Further Reading 21 Further production details: This workpack is published Director NT Education Workpack writer nationaltheatre.org.uk by and copyright The Royal Jonathan Kent National Theatre Elly Green National Theatre Board South Bank Reg. No. 1247285 London SE1 9PX Editor Registered Charity No. T 020 7452 3388 Alice Massey 224223 F 020 7452 3380 Views expressed in this E educationenquiries@ Design workpack are not necessarily nationaltheatre.org.uk Rosanne Liu those of the National Theatre Clare Parker Sources for some of the dates Photographs given in this workpack differ. Jillian Edelstein In each case the most likely Catherine Ashmore date has been chosen, given the available evidence discover: National Theatre Workpack 1 The National’s production This production of Oedipus had its premiere at the National’s Olivier Theatre on 15 October 2008 Characters, in order of speaking Oedipus . .RALPH FIennes Priest. DAVID BURKE Director. JOnatHan Kent Creon .
[Show full text]
Chosen Lights
Poets on poems by John Montague Edited by Peter Fallon Gallery Books Chosen Lights Contents was ﬁrst published in a clothbound edition Poems by John Montague on the occasion of Essays by various authors John Montague’s 80 th birthday, 28 2009 February . 9 Revised edition 2013. Preface page The Gallery Press The Water Carrier 13 Loughcrew Justin Quinn 14 Oldcastle Like Dolmens round my Childhood, the Old People 16 County Meath Alan Gillis 18 Ireland A Welcoming Party 20 Gerald Dawe 21 www.gallerypress.com In Dedication 23 Dermot Healy 24 All rights reserved. For permission The Trout 26 to reprint or broadcast these poems and essays, Paul Muldoon 27 write to The Gallery Press. All Legendary Obstacles 29 30 Collection © The Gallery Press 2009, 2013 Gerard Smyth 32 Poems © John Montague 1995, 1999, 2004, 2013 The Country Fiddler Essays © Individual authors 2009, 2013 Ciaran Carson 33 A Bright Day 35 isbn 978 1 85235 563 0 Seamus Heaney 36 Forge 38 A CIP catalogue record for this book Vona Groarke 39 is available from the British Library. Division 41 David Wheatley 43 The Gallery Press acknowledges the assistance The Wild Dog Rose 45 of The Ireland Funds in the reissue of this book. John McAuliffe 49 Life Class 51 Medbh McGuckian 55 ‘Hearing the cock crow in the dark . .’ 57 Thomas Kinsella 58 A Lost Tradition 59 Eavan Boland 61 Seskilgreen 63 Peter Fallon 64 Preface Courtyard in Winter 66 ‘The poet who survives is the one to celebrate, the human Seán Lysaght 69 being who confronts darkness and defeats it is the one to Windharp 72 admire.’ By Donald Hall’s yardstick John Montague, on the Michael Longley 73 occasion of his 80 th birthday ( 28 February 2009) , more than A Graveyard in Queens 75 half a century after the publication of Forms of Exile , has Ciaran Berry 78 earned a right to our applause.
[Show full text]
New Writing from Ireland 2019
New Writing from Ireland Literature Ireland Promoting and Translating Irish Writing Fiction | 1 NEW WRITING FROM IRELAND 2019 Our latest edition of New Writing Publishers and literary agents attending from Ireland reflects the current quite major international book fairs such as extraordinary, flourishing literary output those in Frankfurt and London, play from this island which continues to a major role in our work. I should like delight, entertain and stimulate readers to thank them for their openness and around the world. enthusiasm for Irish literature. The best writing in the world cannot Literary translation is, of course, the reach its intended readers without basis of our international literature a strong publishing and literary promotion. The team at Literature infrastructure. We are pleased to Ireland is frequently in awe of the cooperate with a dynamic local Irish painstaking, expert work undertaken publishing scene which is undergoing by our literary translators. such a significant period of revitalisation Put simply, without the brilliant and and innovation. We are also delighted professional input of everyone involved that so many Irish writers are published in the international book chain, in Britain by other great and long- Literature Ireland could not deliver established publishing houses. its aim of bringing the best of Irish As we begin a year of celebrations to literature - whether written originally in mark Literature Ireland’s twenty-five Irish or English - to the world – we are years of activity, we should like to thank grateful to you all. our funders Culture Ireland, the Arts We are confident that New Writing from Council and Trinity College Dublin for Ireland 2019 will help you find many new their continued support.
[Show full text]
Afterword: the Act and the Word
Afterword: The Act and the Word Olwen Fouéré Actors are still categorized as mere interepreters within the artistic hier- arachies of Irish theatre. Of course, many of us have bowed to that definition and sadly trundle along, madly interpreting. I wonder why that is. As an actor/actress – or dare I say it – as an artist, as one who seeks, I am conscious that theatre demands everything of the actor’s human form. It demands everything of the body who acts and receives all the knowledge we will ever need. The body is the delta, alpha and omega of theatre and the actor’s power resides there, free from the perceived tyranny of the word. This is the task. It is as simple as putting words on a page and it is not easy, as any writer will tell you. A lot of things can get in the way. For instance, the idea that as I am woman I am therefore called an actress. An Actress might be an icon, languorous and eternally poised somewhere dangerously close to Sunset Boulevard. She lives alone and remains forever exotic and unattainable. There are times when I like that idea and court it for my own wicked amusement. The idea that as an actress I am brilliant at displaying emotion and can move an audience to tears, not to mention the nice writer in the back row. Even the idea that this is perhaps an actress’s job, to be so ‘moving’ in the role that everyone says she really must play Nora in A Doll’s House or later even Medea so that she can demonstrate her remarkable histrionic range – but mind, not too much rage, there madness lies, keep charming the audience if you can and don’t be too ‘strong’ or it will go against you.
[Show full text]