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Palgrave Macmillan

Representations of Policing in Northern Irish Theatre

1921 – 2021

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. T. W. Saunders

    1. Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

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  • First sustained evaluation of how police officers are represented in Northern Irish theatre
  • Evaluates questions of police legitimacy and representations of police characters in relation to political conflict
  • Considers the performativity of policing and how policing is represented on stage over the course of a century

Part of the book series: New Directions in Irish and Irish American Literature (NDIIAL)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
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  2. Introduction

    • T. W. Saunders
    Pages 1-38

  3. 1921–1950

    • T. W. Saunders
    Pages 39-57

  4. 1950–1969

    • T. W. Saunders
    Pages 59-71

  5. 1969–1980

    • T. W. Saunders
    Pages 73-98

  6. 1980–1990

    • T. W. Saunders
    Pages 99-148

  7. 1990–2001

    • T. W. Saunders
    Pages 149-193

  8. 2001–2021

    • T. W. Saunders
    Pages 195-227

  9. Conclusion

    • T. W. Saunders
    Pages 229-243

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 245-290
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Keywords

About this book

This monograph provides the first sustained, chronological account of Northern Irish police officers’ representation in theatre. Importantly, its scope comprises a critical period of national and organisational development, beginning with the Partition of Ireland in 1921 and the founding of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) one year later in 1922. It progresses through the relevant theatrical and historical events of the century, through the period after the RUC’s dissolution and replacement with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in 2001, and concludes in 2021 to coincide with the centenary of Partition. As such, this project is distinctive in its ability to trace paradigm shifts in perceptions of the police over time, as they intersect with relevant historical events and milestones of political conflict in the province.

Reviews

“Thomas Saunders’ authoritative and scholarly monograph, Representations of Policing in Northern Irish Theatre: 1921-2021, organises an astonishing range of material into an engaging narrative. Through his comprehensive analysis, Saunders shows how the presence of the police in Northern Ireland theatre is far more complex than might be assumed. Far from simply providing human scenery and plot devices, the inclusion of police as characters serves to break down Protestant-Catholic binary assumptions. Furthermore, by blending detailed studies of dozens of plays with carefully researched political and sociological information, Saunders deploys the prism of policing to provide a fresh and intriguing perspective on the whole trajectory of Northern Ireland drama across a momentous century.” 

David Grant, Senior Lecturer in Drama, Queen’s University, Belfast


This important book addresses a much-contested subject, bringing us to new insights on policing in Ireland through its investigation of a century of dramatic works. Drawing on a range of unpublished archival material, it is both direct engagement with and critical reorienting of the theatrical canon (it made me return to plays I thought I knew and think again). By turns defusing and intellectually pugilistic, this book hurls you in new comprehensive and political directions, and it confirms the arrival of an authentic and iconoclastic scholarly talent.



Connal Parr, Assistant Professor in History, Northumbria University, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  • Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    T. W. Saunders

About the author

T. W. Saunders received his PhD from the Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2018. He then travelled extensively—to locations including Cyprus, Spain, Chile, Canada, Gibraltar, and the Falkland Islands—while adapting his dissertation into a scholarly monograph and working on various other adjacent projects. He lives in Colorado.

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