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The Celtic Tiger—Ireland's economic boom of the 1990s—has often been read as either exemplifying or demonizing the economic and cultural effects of globalization. This essay uses an interdisciplinary approach to analyse the history of the Celtic Tiger and to show how Declan Hughes's play "Shiver" was one of the first post-Tiger Irish works to assess critically the effects of globalization on Irish culture. Hughes's drama stages Ireland's reaction to the Celtic Tiger as one of paralysis, a harsh critique that destabilizes narratives of newness—with their promises of being transformed into something different—by showing how fulfilment is perpetually deferred in the logic of global capitalism. Trying to authenticate the “new” Ireland is a double bind that dislocates both history and the present. Hughes's play helps to triangulate what globalization can tell us about contemporary Ireland and what Ireland can tell us about contemporary globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses themes of colonization and colonial memory in the play 'On Baile's Strand,' by William Butler Yeats. Yeats' writing of the play for Ireland's National Theatre; Yeats' rejection of a nationalist project founded exclusively on Irish culture; Play's anti-nationalist element; Response to British imperialism.

Explores the political implications of contemporary Irish tragedies. Inadequacy of the theater to engage with the Irish political situation; Analysis of plays by Seamus Heaney and Tom Paulin; Evaluation of closing moments from the play 'The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes'.