1,720,976 research outputs found
Inventing the Myth
No full textThis book approaches Ulster Protestantism through its theatrical and cultural intersection with politics, re-establishing a forgotten history and engaging with contemporary debates. Anchored by the perspectives of ten writers–some of whom have been notably active in political life—it uniquely examines tensions going on within. Through its exploration of class division and drama from the early twentieth century to the present, the book restores the progressive and Labour credentials of the community’s recent past along with its literary repercussions, both of which appear in recent decades to have diminished. Drawing on over sixty interviews, unpublished scripts, as well as rarely-consulted archival material, we can see—contrary to a good deal of clichéd polemic and safe scholarly assessment—that Ulster Protestants have historically and continually demonstrated a vigorous creative pulse as well as a tendency towards Left wing and class politics. St John Ervine, Thomas Carnduff, John Hewitt, Sam Thompson, Stewart Parker, Graham Reid, Ron Hutchinson, Marie Jones, Christina Reid, and Gary Mitchell profoundly challenge as well as reflect their communities. Illuminating a diverse and conflicted culture stretching beyond Orange Order parades, the weaving together of the lives and work of each of the writers considered highlights mutual themes and insights on the identity, as if part of some grander tapestry of alternative twentieth century Protestant culture. Ulster Protestantism’s consistent delivery of such dissenting voices counters its monolithic and reactionary reputation.</p
John Hewitt, Sam Thompson, and a Lost Labour Culture
No full textThis chapter demonstrates the importance of the Labour movement on two Belfast-born Protestant writers and how this inculcated a socialist conviction quite separate, and antagonistic, to Ulster Unionism. Referencing Sam Thompson’s unpublished plays as well as his trio of performed works, it illuminates his public impact as well as the significance of the play Over the Bridge (1960). John Hewitt’s early political activities and regionalist outlook are explored, as is the controversy surrounding his 1957 move to Coventry. The underestimated importance of a class perspective within Ulster Protestantism is addressed, with questions of national identity secondary to the writers’ Left and internationalist politics. With continuing resonance literature itself is shown as intrinsic to the Northern Ireland Labour Party, of which both were associated. The chapter concludes with analysis of the impact of both writers.</p
The Anger and Energy of Gary Mitchell
No full textBorn and brought up on the overwhelmingly Protestant Rathcoole housing estate, Gary Mitchell explored the fragmentation of Ulster Loyalism during the era of the peace process in his key plays and continues to mine the disillusionment and travails of the Protestant working class across Northern Ireland. The Rathcoole focus highlights the dying embers of the Labour movement which carried on in Newtownabbey while the rest of the Northern Ireland Labour Party had faded away, a spirit embodied by the independent councillor Mark Langhammer. Though Mitchell was forced to leave Rathcoole in 2005, he continues to grapple with the strains of working-class Protestant communities in the form of policing tensions, identity questions, and a growing underclass (or ‘precariat’) which considers itself—like other white working-class groups—‘left behind’ by politicians and deindustrialization.</p
The Strange Radicalism of Thomas Carnduff and St John Ervine
No full textSt John Ervine and Thomas Carnduff were born in working-class Protestant parts of Belfast in the 1880s, though Ervine would escape to an eventually prosperous existence in England. Orangeism, the politics of early twentieth-century Ireland, the militancy of the age—and the involvement of these writers in it—along with Ervine’s journey from ardent Fabian to reactionary Unionist, via his pivotal experiences managing the Abbey Theatre and losing a leg in the First World War, are all discussed. Carnduff’s own tumultuous life is reflected through his complicated Orange affiliation, gut class-consciousness, poetry, unpublished work, contempt for the local (and gentrified) Ulster artistic scene, and veneration of socially conscious United Irishman James Hope. It concludes with an assessment of their respective legacies and continuing import.</p
Loyal Women? Marie Jones and Christina Reid
No full textMarie Jones and Christina Reid earned critical and commercial success, with the former breaking through with the Charabanc Theatre Company ensemble in 1983 and Reid emerging via the Lyric Theatre contemporaneously. The latter’s plays reveal a far closer affinity with the traditions of her Orange-supporting family than she conveyed in interviews and has been reflected in scholarly literature. While both writers profess Irish identifications, both tend to emphasize and explore social class along with gender in their lives and work. Being from different but strongly Protestant backgrounds, both were also proximate with Loyalist paramilitaries, writing and interacting with them in some personal or critical capacity. Interviews with Reid, Jones, and the Charabanc women supplement the testimony and insights of female representatives and activists.</p
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