Full Description
Bisi Adigun and Roddy Doyle's centenary adaption of J. M. Synge's classic The Playboy of the Western World had a sold-out run when it was produced at Dublin's Abbey Theater in 2007 and was brought back by popular demand in 2009. The new version is set in a contemporary Dublin pub and features the character of a Nigerian asylum-seeker in the lead role. Under the coauthorship of Bisi Adigun, artistic director of Arambe Productions—Ireland's first African theater company—and best-selling, Booker Prize-winning novelist Roddy Doyle, the play engages with issues of race and immigration in modern Ireland and aims to be a model for intercultural collaboration.
This critical edition features the full text of the play, published for the first time, along with a collection of essays exploring the play's themes, cultural significance, critical reception, and the legal case that cut short its successful production run. Though the play was first produced over a decade ago, the topic of migration has only increased in its global importance over that time, and this adaptation of Playboy remains a popular touchstone among scholars of Irish theater and immigration.
Contents
Introduction
Jason King and Matthew Spangler
The Playboy of the Western World—A New Version
Bisi Adigun and Roddy Doyle
1. Identity, Audience, and Power Dynamics in The Playboy
of the Western World—A New Version, 2007
Kelly Matthews
2. The Playboy of the Western World—A New Version
in Adaptation Practice and Theory
Matthew Spangler
3. The Playboy of the Western World—A New Version,
the Celtic Tiger, and the Immigrant-as-Sequel
Sarah L. Townsend
4. The Intercultural Theater Wars and The Playboy
of the Western World—A New Version
Emer O'Toole
5. Contemporary Irish Theater, the New Playboy of the
Western World Controversy, and the Economic Crisis
Jason King
6. A New Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey Theatre
A Catalyst for Change or a Change for Catalyst?
Bisi Adigun
