I didn't see Fintan O'Toole's documentary on Irish theatre last night but I read his article on the subject in yesterday's Irish Times, here. It's a discussion we should also be having about Irish film.
An excerpt: Apart from anything else, lots of things got better in Irish theatre in the boom years, the variety of forms and companies and the overall standard of production included. It is obvious, nonetheless, that something happened to Irish culture in the era of seemingly endless economic growth. It failed in the most basic way. It was unable to create for Irish people even a vaguely accurate narrative or image of who and where they were.
Mainstream culture ceased to be challenging or confrontational. There were heroic exceptions, but art in general failed to burst the bubble of self-delusion that had such catastrophic long-term consequences.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
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2 comments:
another bubble of delusion...
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2011/0611/1224298526889.html
I had read that. It's about as fluffy, uncomplicated and comfiting as anything one might read in a weekend megazine. Perhaps the impetus came from a PR push. There's also an article on Element in the current issue of Screen Intl.
Most of those featured in the IT intimated that their livelihoods depend on the IFB and the tax break. Whether that should be the case, or why it is so is usually not addressed in articles like this.
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