The anglo-irish big house and war memories in three plays
Journal
'Experienc'd Age knows what for Youth is fit'?: Generational and Familial Conflict in British and Irish Drama and Theatre
ISBN
9781788741637
Date Issued
2019-04-30
Author(s)
Abstract
Compared with the Irish Big House novel, which has enjoyed much critical attention, the study of the Big House drama seems relatively untouched. Nevertheless, the historical values of the Big House drama lie in its kaleidoscopic portraits of their ties, close yet sometimes difficult, with tenants and servants in inter-generational scenarios. The three plays to be discussed in this chapter, Lennox Robinson's The Big House (1926), Joseph O'Conor's The Iron Harp (1955) and Brendan Behan's The Big House (1957) - the former written soon after the Civil War and the latter two, which were rarely discussed critically, written three decades after the war had ended - do not merely document ignored facets of the Anglo-Irish community and families, but also cover momentous events during the Irish Civil War (1922-1923), when residences were either being burned down, besieged or occupied by people who were used to being powerless and subordinated. The big houses, having been built centuries before as symbolic extensions of British imperial power, play roles that move beyond silent observation of the rise and fall of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy. They are witness to many intra- and inter-generational conflicts and function as a political arena that prompts negation, exile and expulsion of their residents and those living outside their gates. This chapter also examines how the three plays serve as parallel texts that feature the Big House as a theatrical theme, as well as uncovering institutionally silenced Anglo-Irish inter-generational experiences during wartime, while addressing how differently playwrights from two generations perceive the Anglo-Irish legacy. The chapter elaborates on how their perceptions are subject to the political contexts the nation was in at the time of the plays' writing.
Type
book part