Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Performing Modernity: Culture and Experiment in the Irish Free State

Performing Modernity: Culture and Experiment in the Irish Free State

Sisson, Elaine
Cochrane, Claire
McConachie, Bruce

Hardcover

Series: Cultural Histories of Theatre and Performance

Art HistoryGeneral World HistoryTheater History

ISBN10: 1350258075
ISBN13: 9781350258075
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Published: Jan 22 2026
Pages: 288
Weight: 1.27
Height: 0.69 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

This book is an exploration of metropolitan bohemian and counter-cultural movements in theatre, design and popular culture in the Irish Free State.

Were there flappers in Ireland? Was there really a Cabaret Club in Dublin in 1926? Using photographs, theatre and costume designs, letters, newspaper accounts, novels and other historical sources, Performing Modernity offers a wholly new perspective on metropolitan life in the Irish Free State where people listen to jazz and go dancing, watch German Expressionist theatre, are interested in Soviet design, and attend pageants, cabarets and fancy dress balls.

The early years of Irish independence are often characterised as isolated and conservative as the country recovered from the effects of the Civil War. This book argues that there was also ambition and optimism among the citizens of the new State as they embraced the promise of modernity in theatre, film and popular culture during the 1920s and 1930s.

Also in

Theater History

View All