Full Description
Told against the backdrop of Dublin's burgeoning gay rights movement of the 1980s and 1990s and the contemporary LGBTQ+ community of today, Once Before I Go explores the bonds of Irish queer lives across three decades in Dublin, London and Paris.
This Student Edition includes commentary and notes by Fintan Walsh, Birkbeck, University of London, UK, which look at the play's themes of sexuality, emigration, time and relationships, as well as its style as a realistic three-part drama that draws on queer performance aesthetics, such as drag, camp, music, idioms and queer culture references.
It also considers the cultural context of the world of the play for the gay community compared to today's world in which queer rights and representation have become the relative norm.
The edition includes an original interview with the playwright.
Contents
Chronology
Contexts - cultural context (queer rights and representation; same-sex marriage legislation in Ireland, 2015; decriminalisation of homosexuality, 1993; availability of HIV treatment and prevention mediation; history of oppression; migration; AIDs epidemic)
Theatrical context (Irish theatre's long history of dramatic realism; contemporary queer performance and aesthetics)
Plot
Themes (sexuality; emigration; time; relationships)
Dramatic devices (setting and time; genre and form; characterisation; language)
Production history (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 2021)
Critical reception (academic debate)
Interview with Philip McMahon
ONCE BEFORE I GO
Notes
