A Stage of Transition: Locating European Identity, Culture and Memory at the Gate Theatre: Frank McGuinness’ ‘The Thrupenny Opera’ and Peer Gynt and Hugo Hamilton’s The Speckled People

Abstract

This paper explores contemporary Irish-European identity as staged at the Gate Theatre, Dublin. The selected plays challenge contemporary Irish perspectives on form, style, politics and scenography and as the paper argues, highlight the interconnected influence of European theatre, culture, and identity as performed at the Gate Theatre. This paper examines European and Irish memory and identity with specific attention to the ‘language’ of performance as it is transposed cross-culturally and as performed to Irish audiences. Questions explored include the adaptation of memoir for/in performance, within German-Irish identity and as explored in The Speckled People (2011), a stage adaptation of family memoir by the German-born Irish-based writer, Hugo Hamilton. The paper, moreover, excavates the representation of identity and home in Frank McGuinness’ adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt (1988) and in the 2014 Gate production of Bertolt Brecht’s and Kurt Weill’s The Three Penny Opera. Drawing on newly released archive materials, this paper puts forward theoretical questions around the performance and reception of the concepts of home, memory and identity in the broader European context. This paper argues the Gate brought European stories and experimental styles to the Irish stage, but also how these identities and modes interacted and engaged audiences in new dialogues. Keywords: European Theatre, Gate Theatre Dublin, Frank McGuinness, Bertolt Brecht, Hugo Hamilton, Joe Vaněk, Scenography