Synge Summer School 8pp `07

Synge Summer School 8pp ’07*
15/02/2007
The
Director
and
Committee are delighted
to present this exciting
programme for 2007 which
once again will include the
popular drama workshop.
18:18
Page 1
Synge Summer School,
Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
Telephone: (+353 404) 46597
E-mail: [email protected]
website: wicklow.ie/syngesummerschool
As Seamus Heaney, Nobel
prize-winner poet wrote:
Every year, the enduring link
of one of the world’s great
dramatists with his Wicklow
region is celebrated with proper
style and confidence. Scholars
and critics of Synge’s work and of
Irish theatre attend the event; the
local community commits itself to
it, local pride is fortified by it and
local culture showcased. The
great natural beauty of Rathdrum
and district makes an ideal setting,
and the many sites of literary and
historical interest in the area give
this particular summer school a
special appeal for visitors. And
not just for visitors: people on the ground
come alive to the advantages of their
native place. From my own participation
in different years, I can attest to the vitality
of the proceedings, both intellectual and
social. Hard work goes into the
organizing, but participants give as good
as they get. Not only is the good standing
of Wicklow’s playwright ratified, but the
good name of his county and its people is
enhanced.
The Synge Summer School Committee
gratefully acknowledges the support of
our sponsors and friends
SUMMER
SCHOOL
1. Rathdrum, centre of the Synge Summer School, just over
an hour by bus or train from Dublin.
2. Avondale, home of the great Irish statesman, Charles
Stewart Parnell.
3. Avoca, village in the valley of the Meetings of the Waters,
made famous by Thomas Moore’s popular song.
4. Ballinaclash, setting of Synge’s farcical comedy, The
Tinkers’s Wedding, and his darker tragicomedy, The Well
of the Saints.
5. Glenmalure, magnificently desolate setting of Synge’s
ironic comedy of mood, The Shadow of the Glen.
6. Glendalough, lovely valley with its two lakes, site of one
of the most important monastic settlements of medieval
Europe.
7. Castle Kevin, Avonmore House, holiday homes where
Synge spent many summers.
8. Glanmore Castle, family estate of the Synges, close to the
spectacular Devil’s Glen.
9. Tomriland House, where The Shadow of the Glen was
written.
Printed by Wicklow Press Ltd.
Theme: Synge and
His Contexts
1st - 7th July 2007
Rathdrum
Co. Wicklow
Ireland
Synge Summer School 8pp ’07*
15/02/2007
18:18
Page 2
J. M. SYNGE
John Millington Synge (1871-1909), one of the founder-directors of
Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, internationally known as the author of Riders to
the Sea and The Playboy of the Western World, came from a Wicklow family and from boyhood on spent many of his summers walking, cycling, and
fishing in the Wicklow mountains. From them and from their people he
drew the inspiration for his lyrical Wicklow essays, several of his poems,
and four of his seven plays.
SYNGE
SUMMER SCHOOL
APPLICATION FORM
Please return this form with a deposit of c50 per person (an additional c60 is required
if attending the Drama Workshop) to
The Secretary, Mrs. Liz Elkinson, Ballinatone, Greenane, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow,
Ireland. Telephone (+353 404) 46597.
Email: [email protected]
The balance of the fee is due on acceptance of application. If you subsequently withdraw,
the deposit will NOT be refunded.
Surname___________________________________ Title______________________
First Name
Address
SYNGE AND HIS CONTEXTS
1 – 7 JULY 2007
Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Email
Events:
Readings, exhibition of Synge’s
photographs of Wicklow, tours of
Synge country.
How did you learn of the Synge Summer School?
DRAMA WORKSHOP
❑
Entertainment:
Director:
Secretary:
Visit to Synge County Drama Performance
Closing School Dinner
Anthony Roche BA, PhD
Mrs. Liz Elkinson,
Ballinatone,
Greenane,
Rathdrum,
Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
Telephone: (+353 404) 46597
Email: [email protected]
Webpage: www.wicklow.ie/syngesummerschool
Please tick to apply as numbers are limited and enclose fee
SEMINARS
Please indicate your preferred choice:
❑ The Plays of J.M. Synge (Professor Nicholas Grene): The Shadow of the Glen, The
Well of the Saints and The Playboy of the Western World. Any edition of Synge’s texts
may be used.
❑ Contemporary Irish drama - 1 (Professor Anthony Roche): Brian Friel, The Home
Place (Gallery Press/Faber and Faber); Tom Murphy, Alice Trilogy (Methuen) – also
available in Tom Murphy: Plays 5 (Methuen); Frank McGuinness, There Came A
Gypsy Riding (Faber).
❑ Contemporary Irish drama - 2 (Dr Patrick Lonergan): Martin McDonagh, The Cripple
of Inishmaan (Methuen); Marina Carr, By the Bog of Cats (Gallery) – also available in
Marina Carr: Plays 1 (Faber); Conor McPherson, The Weir (Nick Hern Books) – also
available in Conor McPherson: Plays 2 (Nick Hern Books).
Synge Summer School 8pp ’07*
15/02/2007
18:18
Page 3
SPEAKERS
Eavan Boland:
Has published nine books of poetry, the latest of which
Domestic Violence is published in Spring 2007.
Forthcoming in Autumn 2007 is The Making of a Sonnet:
A Norton Anthology, co-edited with Edward Hirsch. She
is Mabury Knapp Professor in Humanities at Stanford
University and Director of the Creative Writing
programme there. She divides her time between
California and Dublin, where she lives with her husband,
writer Kevin Casey.
Nicholas Grene:
Professor of English Literature at Trinity College,
Dublin, he was the first Director of the Synge Summer
School. His publications include The Politics of Irish
Drama (1999), Interpreting Synge: Essays from the
Synge Summer School (2000) and Irish Theatre on Tour,
edited with Chris Morash (2005).
Ben Levitas:
Lecturer in Drama at Goldsmiths’ College London. His
book, The Theatre of Nation: Irish Drama and Cultural
Nationalism 1890-1916 (2002), was awarded the
Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language and
Culture by the American Conference for Irish Studies.
Co-edited with Richard Cave and deriving from a
conference they organised at the National Portrait
Gallery, Irish Theatre in England will be published in
2007.
Patrick Lonergan:
Lectures in English at National University of Ireland –
Galway. He is Reviews Editor of Irish Theatre Magazine
and writes about theatre in the west of Ireland for The
Irish Times. He has published on the works of many Irish
dramatists, including Martin McDonagh, Sean O’Casey
and Brian Friel, and is currently completing a book on
Irish Theatre and Globalization.
Fiona Macintosh:
Senior Research Fellow at the Archive of Performances
of Greek and Roman Drama, University of Oxford. She
is the author of Dying Acts: Death in Ancient Greek and
Modern Irish Drama (1994) and, with Edith Hall, Greek
Tragedy and the British Theatre 1660-1914 (2005).
Anna McMullan:
Chair in Drama Studies at Queen’s University Belfast.
Her main teaching and research areas are the drama of
Samuel Beckett, contemporary Irish theatre, and gender
and performance. Her latest book, Performing
Embodiment in Samuel Beckett’s Theatre and Media
Plays, will be published in 2007. She co-edited The
Theatre of Marina Carr (2003) with Cathy Leeney.
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne:
BA in Pure English and PhD in Folklore from University
College Dublin. She is Assistant Keeper in the National
Library of Ireland, where she co-curated the current Yeats
Exhibition and edited the book, W.B. Yeats: Works and
Days (2006). Her novel, The Dancers Dancing, was
short-listed for the Orange Prize. She has published
novels, short stories and plays in both Irish and English.
Richard Pine:
Director Emeritus of the Durrell School of Corfu, which
he founded in 2001. He is the author of The Diviner: the
art of Brian Friel (1999), Lawrence Durrell: The
Mindscape (1994) and The Thief of Reason: Oscar Wilde
and Modern Ireland (1995). His most recent book is
Music and Broadcasting in Ireland (2005). He divides
his time between Corfu and Connemara.
Venues
Conference Centre, Avondale House,
Rathdrum; Woodenbridge Hotel; Brockagh
Centre, Laragh
Transport
Trains and buses to Rathdrum from Dublin.
During the School transport will be arranged
for school outings.
Registration
Sunday 1 July, 12.00 noon to 3.00 p.m.,
Conference Centre, Avondale House.
Anthony Roche (Director):
Associate Professor in the School of English and Drama
at University College Dublin. His publications include
Contemporary Irish Drama: From Beckett to
McGuinness (1994), The Cambridge Companion to
Brian Friel (2006) and many articles and chapters on
twentieth-century Irish dramatists. He is currently a
President’s Research Fellow at UCD.
Lectures
Mornings at 9.30 and 11.15 with coffee
break between lectures. All events are in the
Conference Centre, Avondale House, unless
otherwise stated in the programme.
Ann Saddlemyer:
The editor of Synge’s plays and letters and has published
books and articles on Synge, Yeats, Lady Gregory and
other Irish writers. Her most recent book, Becoming
George: The Life of Mrs. W.B. Yeats (2002), was shortlisted for the James Tait Black award for biography and
she is currently preparing an edition of the letters
between George and W.B. Yeats for Oxford University
Press.
Seminars
Students will meet on the Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, 2.00 - 3.30 for
seminars on one of the following subjects:
The plays of J.M. Synge; Contemporary
Irish drama (Friel, Murphy, McGuinness);
Contemporary Irish drama (McDonagh,
Carr, McPherson).
Harry White:
Professor of Music at University College Dublin and
former President of the Society for Musicology in
Ireland. His books include The Keeper’s Recital: Music
and Cultural History in Ireland, 1770-1970 (1998),
Musical Constructions of Nationalism (2001) and The
Progress of Music in Ireland (2005). He is currently
completing a study of the influence of music on the Irish
literary imagination.
Synge Summer School Committee
Nicky Kirwan (Chairman)
Liz Elkinson (Secretary)
Enda Fitzpatrick (Treasurer)
Michael Brennan
GENERAL INFORMATION
Joan Kavanagh
Jill McCarthy
Elizabeth Tottenham
Drama Workshop
We are pleased to continue with this recent
addition to the School programme.
The drama workshop will be conducted by a
leading Irish theatre practioner. The
workshop is optional to the programme and
requires an additional fee of c60. Numbers
are limited, so early booking is advisable.
Fees
a300. This fee includes all lectures,
seminars, readings, theatre performance,
outings, transport, Friday night dinner and
closing lunch. The drama workshop is an
additional a60.
Application
Application forms should be completed
and returned to the Secretary by 31st May
2007. A deposit of a50 should be sent
with all applications. The balance of fees
must be paid on acceptance. Places at the
school are limited so you are urged to
apply early. The School is intended for
those with an interest in Irish theatre and
is definitely not restricted to university
students or graduates.
Accommodation
A variety of accommodation is available
in the area of the School; Hotel, guest
houses and on-site student accommodation at Avondale House. Please see our
website for more information and booking
details.
Scholarships
A limited number of scholarships will be
awarded covering the cost of the fees.
When returning their application forms
with deposit, applicants should write to
the Director making their case for the
award of a scholarship, including a letter
of recommendation from a tutor, head of
department or other appropriate person.
Synge Summer School 8pp ’07*
15/02/2007
18:18
Page 4
PROGRAMME
SUNDAY 1 July
12.00 – Registration at
3.00
Conference Centre,
Avondale House, Rathdrum
5.30
7.30
2.00 –
3.30
Seminars
4.00
Synge Country tour;
Ballinaclash, Greenane,
Glenmalure and Glendalough
Return to Avondale at 7.30
(approx.)
Official opening of the
School at Avondale
House by guest speaker
Irish Drama performance by
IMP Productions
WEDNESDAY 4 July
11.15 Professor Ann Saddlemyer
‘The Poeticizing of Synge’
FRIDAY 6 July
9.30
Dr. Ben Levitas
‘Synge and Meta-Theatre’
2.00 –
3.30
Seminars
11.15
4.00 6.00
Drama Workshop
Dr. Patrick Lonergan
‘“Mirror(s) Up To Nature”:
Druid Theatre’s Productions
of Synge, McDonagh and
Keane’
8.00
Poetry Reading:
Eavan Boland
Brockagh Centre, Laragh
2.00 –
3.30
Seminars
7.30 –
Synge Summer School
Closing Dinner,
Woodenbridge Hotel
MONDAY 2 July
9.30
Professor Anthony Roche
‘Synge’s Playboy:
The Oral and the Written’
TUESDAY 3 July
9.30
Professor Harry White
‘Synge and Music’
11.15
11.15
Professor Anna McMullan
‘Protean Bodies in Beckett
and Synge’
THURSDAY 5 July
9.30
Richard Pine
‘Well, well, well:
Synge, Yeats and Friel’
2.00
4.00
Drama Workshop
11.15
Dr Eilis Ni Dhuibhne
‘Synge and Folklore’
SATURDAY 7 July
11.00 Panel with leading theatrical
interpreters of Synge and
Irish drama
2.00
4.00
Drama Workshop
12.00
Dr. Fiona McIntosh
‘The Abbey and the Court:
Yeats, Synge and the Greek
Theatre of Gilbert Murray’
Evening Free
1.00
Evening free
Lunch, Avondale House
Close of School