![]() While he charts development in the work, Jordan prefers to view McPherson’s work as a continuum: “There is a sense that McPherson’s body of work is not simply consecutively written plays, rather it is as if they shadow, ghost or hover over and co-exist alongside each other” (18). He cogently argues that McPherson’s work responds and challenges neo-liberalism’s promotion of a selfish and cruel individualism through his repeated representations on stage, in film and television of communities that resist commodification or consideration only in terms of market value. Jordan situates McPherson’s work “within the networks of the larger world dominated by the ideology loosely defined as neo-liberalism” (10). All of this is greatly complemented with astute personal judgment based on years of experiencing the work first hand. Relevant appropriate frameworks are then employed in the analysis, drawn from diverse areas such as neuroscience, psychology and sociology. This study responds to the form and matter of the work by identifying and charting recurring themes, tropes and play with generic conventions. The work, although rooted in Ireland, has a wider appeal without trading in stereotype or nostalgia for an invented Irish past. As the opening of this book makes clear, the majority of McPherson’s plays have been premiered at some of London’s most prestigious venues and often then transferred to theatres in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles before ever being produced in Ireland. Not only has this been already done but also such approaches seem reductive of works that Jordan convincingly argues “transcend national boundaries and identitarian politics” (10). Nor does it seek to locate and validate any particular theorization or interpretation of the society, identity or history of Ireland in McPherson’s work. This book does not situate McPherson in relation to a tradition or history of Irish writers and artists. Jordan’s comprehensive book is wide-ranging in not only addressing McPherson’s theatre and films as promised in the title but also his work for television and his musical. is a masterful and refreshing study of McPherson’s work. The Theatre and Films of Conor McPherson: Conspicuous Communities. The Theatre and Films of Conor McPherson: Conspicuous Communities (2019) by Eamonn Jordan Jordan, Eamonn.
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