Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is twofold. Firstly, it critically surveys several landmark plays that have since the 1990s concerned themselves with the de-shaming of queer Irish subjects. Secondly, it interrogates how playwrights, theatre makers and performers have mobilised non-traditional dramaturgical strategies and/or powerful testimonials to highlight and explore queer lives in an Ireland that has struggled to come to terms with dissident sexualities. The non-traditional and highly performative strategies employed by recent Irish queer theatre make visible what was previously invisible; namely, the ways in which public understandings of sexual shame have been discursively coupled with queerness and reified as a threat to nation. The chapter concludes with theoretical and socio-political questions that probe the overarching assimilatory ethos of recent queer testimonial theatre.
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O’Brien, C. (2017). Queering the Irish Stage: Shame, Sexuality, and the Politics of Testimonial. In: Etienne, A., Dubost, T. (eds) Perspectives on Contemporary Irish Theatre. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59710-2_18
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