Dr Emer McHugh and Molly Quinn-Leitch (QUB) 'Shakespeare in Ireland'

Molly Quinn-Leitch: 'A Cultural History of Shakespeare in Northern Ireland: Materiality, Performance, Fiction, Film'. This paper will focus on aspects of her thesis ‘The Cultural History of Shakespeare in Northern Ireland’, funded by AHRC/Northern Bridge. The paper will primarily present work on two chapters, ‘Shakespeare Iconography in Victorian Belfast: Identity, Industrialisation, Imperialism’, and ‘Professional Performance of Shakespeare in Northern Ireland (1921-present)’. It will also briefly discuss elements of other chapters on Community Performance and Shakespeare, Shakespeare and Literature in Northern Ireland, and Shakespeare and Film in Northern Ireland. Exploring aesthetic and political dimensions, the paper demonstrates that Shakespeare’s plays – their mobilisation and reception – have shaped the material, literary, and theatrical fabric of Northern Ireland. Molly Quinn-Leitch is completing her PhD in the School of AEL at Queen’s.

Dr Emer McHugh: ‘Who is a Great Shakespearean? Kenneth Branagh, Irishness, and the Shakespeare Industry’.        I use the case study of Kenneth Branagh—perhaps the most renowned Shakespearean of his generation, and who is also an Irish Protestant from Belfast who left the north of Ireland at the height of the Troubles—to argue that the narrative of so-called ‘Great Shakespeareans’, particularly those active in British theatrical institutions, has been simplified over time by British imperialism and cultural hegemony. Here, In reappraising his career through the lens of Irishness (drawing on Branagh’s work and archive, as well as interviews, biographies, and other material), I argue for complicating the ‘Great Shakespearean’ narrative—ultimately suggesting that Anglo-Irish cultural exchange plays a significant role in the history of British Shakespeare performance. Emer McHugh is a Marie Skłowdowska-Curie Research Fellow in the School of AEL at Queen's. She is a graduate of the Drama programmes at the University of Galway (BA (Hons) and PhD), and also holds an MA in Shakespeare and Theatre from the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. Emer is working on the project ‘Shakespeare and the Irish Actor’, which brings together and evaluates the contributions and achievements of Irish actors across hundreds of years of Shakespeare performance on screen and stage in Ireland, North America and Europe. Her monograph, Irish Shakespeares: Gender, Sexuality, and Performance in the Twenty-First Century, is forthcoming from Routledge.

This seminar will be available both in-person and online via MS Teams. 

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