Theatre That Speaks to Its Moment: Melt (2017) by Shane Mac an Bhaird

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24162/EI2022-10705

Keywords:

Anthropocene, contemporary Irish theatre, environmental impact, Melt, Shane Mac an Bhaird, social activism

Abstract

In Melt (2017), by Shane Mac an Bhaird, two Irish scientists struggle in the Antarctic to reach glory from their research while Veba, a female creature found in the subglacial lake, questions the reality or fantasy of the episode. The study carried out in this article considers, first, the context of creation of the play through the presentation of the concept of new Irish theatres in the millennium, which involves the appearance of companies and social activism movements that challenge the notion of what theatre means. This is followed by an analysis of Ireland and the Anthropocene, to contextualise the play themes and include other social justice activisms, in the form of cultural projects, which encourage the reduction of the environmental impact and provide a backdrop against which Melt emerged. The approach to the play from these perspectives will lead to the conclusions, which aim to show why Mac an Bhaird’s work offers and confirms new perspectives in contemporary Irish theatre. Furthermore, the study aims to contribute to the deserving scholarship for this play, which has not yet received much critical attention.

Author Biography

María del Mar González Chacón, University of Oviedo

María del Mar González Chacón lectures at the Department of English, French and German Philology of the University of Oviedo, in the Principality of Asturias, Spain, where she teaches English language and literature. Her main areas of research are contemporary Irish theatre, with a special interest in the plays of Marina Carr and her rewriting of Greek myths, the translations and adaptations of Spanish plays by Irish playwrights, with a focus on the theatre of Federico García Lorca in Ireland. Her latest publications are “The Concept of the Edge in the Plays of Marina Carr,” Roczniki Humanistyczne (2020), ““This is not about love, this is about guilt and terror”: Phaedra Backwards (2011) and forwards by Marina Carr,” Irish Studies Review (2020), ““Speaking through Another Culture”: Frank McGuinness’s Version of Federico García Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba (La Casa de Bernarda Alba),” Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies (2019) and “‘Walking the boundaries’: Lynne Parker’s unpublished version of Federico García Lorca’s La Casa de Bernarda Alba”, in Studies in Theatre and Performance (2022). She has been a visiting researcher at Moore Research Institute (National University of Ireland Galway), Institute of Irish Studies (Queen’s University Belfast) and Women’s Studies Center (University of York). She has been the vice-president of ASYRAS (Association of Young Researchers on Anglophone Studies) and is the secretary of Archivum Revista de Filología.

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Published

2022-03-17

How to Cite

María del Mar González Chacón. (2022). Theatre That Speaks to Its Moment: Melt (2017) by Shane Mac an Bhaird. Estudios Irlandeses, 17(1), 16–27. https://doi.org/10.24162/EI2022-10705

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2022): Issue 17 - 2022

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2022 María del Mar González Chacón

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