“PRIME THE PUMP” The lived experience of post-war arts policy in the Irish amateur drama movement 1949 to 1969
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Date
2023-05-30Embargo Date
2025-05-29
Author
Kennedy, Ian Gerard
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Abstract
The interface between Arts Council policy and the lived experience of amateur drama,
which this dissertation examines, provides cultural historians with an access point to
understand post-war Irish society. After decades of neglect, the Irish Government
initiated a series of fundamental cultural responses to post-war Ireland’s socio economic crisis. These initiatives included the Report on the Arts in Ireland (1949),
the passing of the first Arts Act (1951), establishing An Chomhairle Ealaíon / the Arts
Council of Ireland (1952) and initiating the national An Tóstal Festival (1953). This
research argues that Arts Council’s support for amateur drama and other cultural
festivals was essential to the state’s response to this deteriorating economic situation.
Following Raymond Williams’s approach to cultural development, this
research uses the Arts Council archive to analyse the development of amateur drama
festivals. In addition, physical and digital archives exploring the North Cork, Western,
Clare and All-Ireland Drama Festivals tell the story of this movement. The
predominant focus of recent work concerning Irish theatre history is the professional
rather than the amateur experience. However, in recent years, scholars in the United
Kingdom, the United States of America, and Ireland have begun to understand amateur
drama as a means of exploring the process of change in society.
Rather than see amateur drama as a springboard for the professional, this
research shows it was where people in post-war rural Ireland experienced the creativity
and storytelling of the theatre. In addition, plays performed at amateur drama festivals
became opportunities to highlight issues of national importance, such as emigration,
poverty, and the institutionalisation of vulnerable women and children. Finally, it
concludes that with Arts Council support, amateur drama festivals became a voluntary
grassroots movement influencing audience attitudes towards Irish modernisation.