Une promise pour la licorne : quand Denis Johnston crève l’horizon de la scène irlandaise
Unlike his first two plays, Denis Johnston’s A Bride for the Unicorn, produced in 1933 at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, was not a success. It did not meet the audience’s or the critics’ expectations since the playwright aimed at redefining them. He endeavoured to create an orig...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses universitaires de Rennes
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| Series: | Revue LISA |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/6099 |
| _version_ | 1797312804708941824 |
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| author | Virginie Girel-Pietka |
| author_facet | Virginie Girel-Pietka |
| author_sort | Virginie Girel-Pietka |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Unlike his first two plays, Denis Johnston’s A Bride for the Unicorn, produced in 1933 at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, was not a success. It did not meet the audience’s or the critics’ expectations since the playwright aimed at redefining them. He endeavoured to create an original piece of work, breaking away from the realistic drama which prevailed in Ireland at the time. Fraught with mythological references and hazy characters, the play was considered too complicated, even obscure, and vaguely moralistic. Examining the way Johnston turned his back on the Aristotelian tradition so as to usher Modernism onto the stage, this paper aims at showing that the play was rather meant to open up new aesthetic prospects for the Irish drama of its time. In the wake of World War I and the worldwide Great Depression, mimesis was out of fashion. The play therefore focused on the individual’s never-ending quest for identity, thus offering food for thought as regards the art of theatre. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T02:20:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b745501e631046e282138f5f354c177e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1762-6153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T02:20:27Z |
| publisher | Presses universitaires de Rennes |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revue LISA |
| spelling | doaj.art-b745501e631046e282138f5f354c177e2024-02-13T14:37:38ZengPresses universitaires de RennesRevue LISA1762-615312410.4000/lisa.6099Une promise pour la licorne : quand Denis Johnston crève l’horizon de la scène irlandaiseVirginie Girel-PietkaUnlike his first two plays, Denis Johnston’s A Bride for the Unicorn, produced in 1933 at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, was not a success. It did not meet the audience’s or the critics’ expectations since the playwright aimed at redefining them. He endeavoured to create an original piece of work, breaking away from the realistic drama which prevailed in Ireland at the time. Fraught with mythological references and hazy characters, the play was considered too complicated, even obscure, and vaguely moralistic. Examining the way Johnston turned his back on the Aristotelian tradition so as to usher Modernism onto the stage, this paper aims at showing that the play was rather meant to open up new aesthetic prospects for the Irish drama of its time. In the wake of World War I and the worldwide Great Depression, mimesis was out of fashion. The play therefore focused on the individual’s never-ending quest for identity, thus offering food for thought as regards the art of theatre.https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/6099modernismTheaterJohnston Denisidentity crisisquest for identity |
| spellingShingle | Virginie Girel-Pietka Une promise pour la licorne : quand Denis Johnston crève l’horizon de la scène irlandaise Revue LISA modernism Theater Johnston Denis identity crisis quest for identity |
| title | Une promise pour la licorne : quand Denis Johnston crève l’horizon de la scène irlandaise |
| title_full | Une promise pour la licorne : quand Denis Johnston crève l’horizon de la scène irlandaise |
| title_fullStr | Une promise pour la licorne : quand Denis Johnston crève l’horizon de la scène irlandaise |
| title_full_unstemmed | Une promise pour la licorne : quand Denis Johnston crève l’horizon de la scène irlandaise |
| title_short | Une promise pour la licorne : quand Denis Johnston crève l’horizon de la scène irlandaise |
| title_sort | une promise pour la licorne quand denis johnston creve l horizon de la scene irlandaise |
| topic | modernism Theater Johnston Denis identity crisis quest for identity |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/6099 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT virginiegirelpietka unepromisepourlalicornequanddenisjohnstoncrevelhorizondelasceneirlandaise |