The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty created a split in the island of Ireland between Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom, and the Free State which later became the Republic of Ireland. However, the arrangement did not bring peace to this historically troubled island, which has long been divided on religious as well as political grounds, but allowed conflict to continue between those who welcomed the division and those who wished to reunite the two Irelands. It seems that Ireland has long been at war, or on the verge of it, either physically or metaphorically.
This course will study a selection of plays that dramatize wars that are either fought on actual battlefields, haunt their survivors, or traumatize individuals and families in various ways. On different scales, these wars have served to make worse the historical antagonisms between communities, reinforce existing social divisions, and condition the perspectives of individuals towards the outside world. The plays to be studied will illustrate how war, and the fear of war, can produce significant and long-lasting effects not only on interpersonal and inter-communal relations but, and to a greater extent, on Ireland’s interactions with the remote “Other” in a global context.