The recent failure to programme gender-balanced work at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre is not the only problem for women in Irish theatre, says Emer O'Toole – the whole nation’s canon is dominated by white male voices.
Sometimes life imitates art. Recently, however, life has been imitating my teaching curriculums. For example, in early 2014, just as I was revving up to teach a module on gender and performance in contemporary Ireland, RTÉ paid out €80,000 over homophobia allegations, and Pantigate swung into gear. As my class and I watched the video of Panti Bliss’s now famous oration from the Abbey stage – an address Fintan O’Toole (no relation) declared “the most eloquent Irish speech since Daniel O’Connell was in his prime” – I knew I could have provided no more perfect example of the political potential of gender performance if O’Connell himself had returned from the grave and burst into I Will Survive.... Keep reading on Irish Times
Sometimes life imitates art. Recently, however, life has been imitating my teaching curriculums. For example, in early 2014, just as I was revving up to teach a module on gender and performance in contemporary Ireland, RTÉ paid out €80,000 over homophobia allegations, and Pantigate swung into gear. As my class and I watched the video of Panti Bliss’s now famous oration from the Abbey stage – an address Fintan O’Toole (no relation) declared “the most eloquent Irish speech since Daniel O’Connell was in his prime” – I knew I could have provided no more perfect example of the political potential of gender performance if O’Connell himself had returned from the grave and burst into I Will Survive.... Keep reading on Irish Times