The Transnational Roots of Key Figures from the Early Years of the Gate Theatre, Dublin

In Gate Theatre studies, the venue’s original artistic directors, Hilton Edwards and Micheál mac Liammóir, are commonly described as ‘Englishmen’. This chapter breaks new ground by exploring the Irish roots of Edwards and mac Liammóir, and the rumours that mac Liammóir had Spanish and Jewish ancestry. ‘The Boys’ were not the only figures associated with the early Gate to have transnational backgrounds. Coralie Carmichael, the theatre’s biggest female star in its early years, was of mixed Moroccan and Scottish ancestry, and Nancy Beckh, who worked as an actor, costume designer and milliner at the Gate between 1932 and 1956, was a Dubliner of half-German descent. Using critical theories around new interculturalism, the chapter suggests that the mixed backgrounds of these artists helped them to create intercultural performances. It further demonstrates that these performances cannot be simply dismissed as those of people condescendingly engaging in cultural imperialism or shallow cosmopolitanism.

Global Shakespeare Criticism Beyond the Nation State

This chapter discusses three methodological concerns about studying global Shakespeare—those touring and intercultural performances often thought to play a geopolitical role in cultural diplomacy. First, the postnational space for global arts is shaped by mutual influence and fluid cultural locations rather than by traditional notions of the nation state. It is therefore no longer useful to consider a production within one national context. Second, global Shakespeare as a field of study reflects the anxiety about cultural particularity and universality. Identifying the dynamics behind the production and reception of global Shakespeare will help us confront archival silences in the record of cultural globalization; what has been redacted, eliminated, or suppressed. Third, global citations of Shakespeare—whether in performances or by politicians—demonstrate a spectral quality. The spectre of global Shakespeare is a product of the politically articulated promise and perils of cultural difference.