Lecture opens Kilroy celebrations

THE FIRST event in a weekend of celebrations of the work of playwright Thomas Kilroy took place at Trinity College in Dublin last night.

The opening lecture, “The Modernity of Thomas Kilroy”, was delivered by Nicholas Grene, TCD professor of English literature, who said Mr Kilroy is “one of the most important figures in Irish theatre over the last 40 years”.

Mr Kilroy, a former writer-in-residence at the college, which recently made him an honorary fellow, has written 16 stage plays, most of which have been staged by the Abbey Theatre, of which he is a board member.

A recipient of a special tribute award at the Irish TimesTheatre Awards in 2004 and presented in 2008 with the PEN Ireland Cross award for his contribution to literature, Mr Kilroy is also a member of Aosdána and emeritus professor of modern English at NUI Galway.

Speaking before his lecture, Prof Grene praised Mr Kilroy for his role in modernising Irish theatre since his 1968 breakthrough play, The Death and Resurrection of Mr Roche.

Prof Grene remarked that the production was “the first Irish play to have a gay figure as a central character”.

He said the playwright had brought into Irish theatre “modernist techniques from the great European masters going right back to [Anton] Chekhov and [Luigi] Pirandello, both of whom he has adapted for the Irish stage . . . but he has also been a critic and a dramatiser and an observer of modern Irish life and what has made us what we are”.

Events today to celebrate the playwright’s work include a series of panel discussions by theatre professionals and academics, culminating in a staged reading of his unproduced play Blake at the Samuel Beckett Theatre in TCD.

Speaking about the celebrations, Mr Kilroy said: “I’m speechless; it’s difficult to find words for it. It’s a wonderful honour. I’ve had a long association with Trinity, so it’s very nice that that has been picked up on. It feels good.”