Conor Mcpherson’s the Weir: New Master of Irish Storytelling

Abstract

This paper considers the contemporary Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s award-winning play The Weir (1997), as a depiction of Ireland’s storytelling culture, especially in the countryside. Critics and scholars have frequently characterized Irish writers as great story-tellers and Conor McPherson, who has been considered as the new master of old-fashioned Irish art of storytelling, continues this tradition. In The Weir the dwellers of the local pub occupy themselves by drinking, teasing each other and recollecting events from past times. By reciting a sequence of narratives in the form of dramatic monologues, these men wish to impress a young woman from Dublin who has rented a neighborhood house. They familiarize her to this idyllic part of Ireland by telling a series of stories that include fairies, ghosts, mystery and the supernatural. While acknowledging an ages-old tradition, - a tale of local folklore about fairies - McPherson explores moving themes of loss, abandonment, loneliness and regret through haunting and entertaining ghost stories.

Keywords

• Conor McPherson, The Weir, Storytelling, Monologue, Ghost Stories

Conor Mcpherson’s the Weir: New Master of Irish Storytelling

Öz

Bu çalışma günümüz İrlandalı oyun yazarı Conor McPherson’ın 1997 yılında yazdığı bol ödüllü The Weir adlı oyununu özellikle İrlanda kırsalının en yaygın geleneği olan öykü anlatımı açısından inceler. Tiyatro eleştirmenleri ve araştırmacılar sık sık İrlandalı yazarların öykü anlatımı alanındaki ustalığını vurgular. McPherson yazdığı oyunlarda İrlanda’nın eski bir geleneği olan öykü anlatımı sanatının yeni ustası olarak dikkat çeker. The Weir oyununda orta-yaşlı, işçi sınıfından erkek karakterler her zamanki yaptıkları gibi mahalli meyhanede biraraya gelirler. İçki eşliğinde, sohbet eder, şakalaşır ve geçmişi yadederler. Karakterler, Dublin’den gelen ve İrlanda’nın kırsal bölgesine yeni yerleşen genç bir kadın karakteri etkilemek üzere dramatik monolog formatında öyküler anlatırlar. Peri, hayalet, gizem ve doğaüstü olaylar içeren öyküler vasıtasıyla Valerie’ye bulundukları kırsal yöreyi tanıtırlar. Karakterlerin birbirlerine anlattıkları bazen eğlenceli bazen düşündürücü öyküler sayesinde, McPherson nesillerdir süregelen öykü geleneğine dikkat çekerken ayrıca karakterlerin yalnızlık, sıkıntı, pişmanlık gibi duygular içeren iç dünyalarını yansıtır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Conor McPherson, The Weir, Öyküleyici Anlatım, Monolog, Hayalet Öyküleri

Kaynakça

1. Billington, M., (2000), “A study in despair”, The Guardian , 22 January http://www.guardian. co.uk/culture/2000/jan/22/artsfeatures1
2. Billington, M., (2004), “Shining City”, The Guardian, 10 June 2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2004/jun/10/ artsfeatures1
3. Bourke, A., (1996), “The Virtual Reality of Irish Fairy Legend,” in Éire-Ireland, 30, 1–2.
4. Brantley, B., (1999), “Dark Yarns Casting Light”, http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview
5. Castagno, P. C., (2011), New Playwriting Strategies: A Language-Based Approach to Playwriting, New York: Routledge.
6. Chambers, L. and E. Jordan, eds. (2012), The Theatre of Connor McPherson: ‘Right beside the Beyond’, Dublin: Carysfort Press.
7. Clapp, S., (2011), “Driving Miss Daisy; The Veil – review”, The Observer , 9 October http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/oct/09/ driving-miss-daisy-vanessa-redgrave
8. Clapp, S., (2006), “The remorse code”, The Observer, 13 June http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2004/jun/13/theatre

9. Clapp, S., (2004), “Make mine a double”, 1 October http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2006/oct/01/ theatre1
10. Cohn, D., (1978), Transparent Minds: Narrative Modes for Presenting Consciousness in Fiction, Princeton University Press.
11. Costa, M., (2006), “Human beings are animals”, The Guardian , 13 September http://www. guardian.co.uk/stage/2006/sep/13/theatre4
12. Cummings, S., (2000), “Homo Fabulator: The Narrative Imperative in Conor McPherson’s Plays,” in Theatre Stuff: Critical Essays on Contemporary Irish Theatre, E. Jordan ed., Dublin: Carysfort Press.
13. Fried, R. K. (2014), An interview with Conor McPherson, ‘The Haunted Stage: Conor McPherson on His Plays’. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/20/ the-haunted-stage-conor-mcpherson-on-hisplays.html
14. Galvin, A., (2010), “Ghosts, Gospels, and The Eclipse: A Conversation with Conor McPherson”, 5 April. http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/ film/2010/04/05/ghosts-gospels-andthe-eclipse-a-conversation-with-conormcpherson/
15. Haughey, P., O’Brien, C., (2001), “Struggling Toward a Future: Irish Theater Today”, New Hibernia Review, 5: 2, pp. 126-133.
16. Heilpern, J., (1999), “Ghosts, Goblins and Guinness: The Weir’s Weird Brew”, April 11, http:// www.observer.com/node/41339
17. Kerrane, K., (2006), “The Structural Elegance of
18. Conor McPherson’s The Weir”, New Hibernia Review, 10:4, pp. 105-121. Machray, R. (7 April 2011), http://blogcritics.org/ theatre-review-costa-mesa-the-weir/
19. McPherson, C., (1997), The Weir, London: Nick Hern Books.
20. Meany, H., (2008), “The Weir”, The Guardian , 12 June http://www.guardian.co.uk/ stage/2008/jun/12/theatre3
21. Rawson, Christopher., (2009), “Irish playwright
22. Conor McPherson chases away the demons” http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/theaterdance/2009/01/22/Irish-playwright-Conor
23. McPherson-chases-away-the-demons/ stories/200901220284 Rees, Jasper, (2014), ‘The Resurrection of Conor McPherson’ http://www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/resurrectionconor-mcpherson
24. Wallace, C., (2006), “Monologue Theatre, Solo
25. Performance and Self as Spectacle.” Monologues:Theatre, Performance, Subjectivity. Ed. Clare Wallace. Prague: Litteraria Pragensia, 1-16. Theatre Talk: Conor McPherson’s Interview on The Sefarer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93RWrTkGSE4 “Discover Ireland”, http://www.discoverireland.com/ us/about-ireland/culture/