Madam, – I am writing to communicate my concerns about a review (Weekend Review, May 2nd) by Fiach Mac Conghail of Patrick Lonergan's book Theatre and Globalization: Irish Drama in the Celtic Tiger Era.
In the review, Mr Mac Conghail, director of the National Theatre, selects an individual passage from the book as the jumping-off point for a discussion of the current state of Irish theatre criticism. His views on this are surprising and provocative, and are provoking a necessary debate in your and other publications’ pages.
What is regrettable, however, is the lack of proper critical consideration he affords Dr Lonergan’s book. He dismissed out of hand the book’s central thesis without appearing to engage with it. It is curious that Mr Mac Conghail refers to the book as a “collection of essays” when it is clearly a through-written volume.
Mr Lonergan offers a compelling argument about the ways in which the forces of globalisation have shaped the creation, distribution, and reception of theatre in Ireland during the recent boom times.
At a time when the negative effects of Ireland’s interconnection to the rest of the world are being felt across Irish society and culture, and indeed by the arts sector, Mr Lonergan’s book offers an important model with which to examine these connections in depth.
Will the paper consider giving Mr Lonergan’s book proper consideration by commissioning a new, more considered review? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In Artscape (Weekend Review, May 9th) Deirdre Falvey takes issue with Abbey director Fiach Mac Conghail’s championing of Metro’s theatre coverage and suggests that Mr Mac Conghail, in criticising the space The Irish Times allocates to reviews, is misguided in praising Metro’s reviews which are generally even shorter.
One assumes Mr Mac Conghail was merely suggesting that Metro’s theatre coverage – in relation to its arts coverage in general – is, to his mind at least, more balanced than that of The Irish Times. Ms Falvey seems churlish in suggesting Mr Mac Conghail may have made these remarks as a result of the view that Metro’s write-ups tend to be more favourable than those of The Irish Times. Metro reviews are utterly impartial and, while occasionally more positive than those printed in your newspaper, are just as often less so. – Yours, etc,