Bernard Shaw's Ireland: An International Perspective

Schedule of Events
June 5-7, 2024

 

Schedule of Events

We are excited to showcase both Shaw's international perspective and Shaw as dramatist at this conference. 
Please find the provisional schedule below.
Wednesday, June 5 

Day 1

10:30am - 11:00am

Registration

Tea and Coffee provided

11:00am - 12:00pm

Keynote Speaker:
Nelson O'Ceallaigh Ritschel: "Shaw and the 1920s London-Irish Theatre"

Chair: Audrey McNamara


12:00pm - 1:00pm 

Session 1: Shaw and Socialism

Chair: David Clare

Marie Hewelt: "Pygmalion's Statue? Shaw's Eliza Doolittle and the Socialist Women's Movement"

Eamonn Jordan: "Widower's Houses: Following the Money"

 1:00pm - 2:30pm

Lunch (on one's own)

 2:30pm - 3:30pm

Session 2: Reaping What They Have Sown

Chair: Audrey McNamara

Lisa Robertson: "Take all you can out of Ireland and Spend it in England: Land, Housing and Imperialism in John Bull's Other Island and A New Amazonia"

Kumar Parag: "Concept of Marriage and Status of Women in Bernard Shaw's Candida and Mahesh Dattani's Where There's a Will"

3:45pm - 4:00pm 

Short Break

Tea and Coffee provided

 4:00pm - 4:30pm

"Dramatizing the 'Discarded Defence': Bernard Shaw's Rearticulation of Roger Casement"

Performed by Justine Zapin
Directed by Samantha Cade


 4:30pm - 5:15pm

In Conversation with the Director

Justine Zapin chats to Samantha Cade


6:30pm - 7:30pm 

Opening Reception

The Irish Whiskey Museum
119 Grafton Street, Dublin, D02 E620

Opening Remarks and Drinks Reception

7:30pm - 9:30pm 

Whiskey Tasting AND

Performance and Q&A Session


Paddy O'Keeffe in
Bernard Shaw Invites You!

Tickets MUST be bought separately - please click here to learn more/purchase tickets


Thursday, June 6

Day 2

10:00am - 11:00am

Plenary:
Lagretta Lenker: "Shaw and the Woolves"

Chair: Michel Pharand

11:00am - 11:30am

Short Break

Tea and Coffee provided

11:30am - 12:30pm

Session 3: War and Peace

Chair: Nelson O'Ceallaigh Ritschel

Deborah Payne: "Shaw Goes to War - Or Not"

Ellen Dolgin: "Sybil Thorndike and Saint Joan: Vigor, Rigor, and Spiritual Quest"


12:30pm - 1:30pm

Lunch (on one's own)


1:30pm - 2:30pm

Plenary: 
Dorothy Hadfield: "The Political is Personal: Charlotte Shaw's Irish Influence"

Chair: Justine Zapin


2:30pm - 3:00pm

Short Break

Tea and Coffee provided

3:00pm - 4:00pm

Session 4: Identity: Colonized and Gendered

Chair: Michel Pharand

Brad Kent: "Shavians in Colonial Ghana"

Loic Wright: "Aesthetes and Aristocrats: Art, Class, and Masculinities in Bernard Shaw's Love Among the Artists

4:00pm - 4:15pm

Short Break


4:15pm - 5:30pm

Artists Roundtable

Chair: David Clare

This roundtable will feature a facilitated discussion with three, Dublin-based, film and theatre artists, tracing the influence that Bernard Shaw has had on their work and discussing their engagement with his plays. The panellists include IFTA-nominated filmmaker Patricia Kelly, the writer and director of the award-winning 2023 feature film Verdigris – a work that, like many of Shaw’s plays, examines economic hardship versus privilege as well as issues related to gender and power within relationships. The actor/director/producer Michael James Ford, well-known to Dublin theatregoers and fans of Irish film, will speak about his experiences starring in, directing, and producing several Shaw plays over the years, including at, for example, the Gate Theatre, Bewley's Cafe Theatre, and on tour at Big Houses and other scenic venues across the country. Panellist Dr. Aisling Smith is a director and playwright, whose work has garnered great reviews and fantastic houses across Ireland and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Aisling completed her PhD at NUI Galway (now University of Galway) with a dissertation on staging Shaw, and – over the years – she has directed innovative productions of plays such as O’Flaherty, VC, Pygmalion, The Millionairess, and Too True to Be Good at, for example, Coole Park, Galway’s Town Hall Theatre, and university venues in Galway and Limerick.

5:30pm - 6:15pm

Self-guided tour of the Museum of Literature Ireland

6:15pm - 7:30pm

The Man of Destiny - Featured Performance
(learn more about the production here)


Presented by Goose Chase Theatre and Weird Gravy Theatre. Witness the timeless brilliance of George Bernard Shaw's masterpiece, The Man of Destiny, brought to life on stage in an enthralling theatrical production featuring a wonderfully talented cast. The Man of Destiny follows the charismatic and enigmatic figure of Napoleon Bonaparte. Through Shaw's signature blend of razor-sharp wit and incisive social commentary, the play delves into the complex psyche of this extraordinary historical figure. Follow Napoleon's journey as he grapples with love, power, and his own legacy, offering a profound exploration of human ambition and the fickle nature of fate.


Day 3

Friday, June 7

9:30am - 11:00am

Session 5: Playwright and Performance

Chair: Justine Zapin

James Armstrong: "John Bull's Other Ensemble"

Mary Christian: "Queen Elizabeth through Irish Eyes, On and Off Stage"

Julie Sparks: "A Contemporary Doll's House: Lucas Hnath Reconsiders Ibsen and Shaw"


11:00am - 11:30am

Short Break

Tea and Coffee provided


11:30am - 12:30pm

Plenary:
Tony Roche: "Shaw, Boucicault, Friel: The "Irish" Play"

Chair: David Clare

12:30pm - 1:30pm

Lunch (on one's own)

1:30pm - 2:30pm

Session 6: Posthumanism

Chair: Brad Kent

Vishnu Patil: "Posthumanism and Shaw"

Eric Tyler Powell: "Shaw, Shelley, Socialism"

Tae-Yong Eom: "Back to Methuselah: Bernard Shaw's Imagination about Posthumanism"

2:30pm - 3:30pm

International Shaw Society Roundtable

Chair: TBA

7:00pm

Conference Banquet

Location: Iveagh Gardens Hotel
72/74 Harcourt St, Saint Kevin's, Dublin 2, D02 Y282