1 Eugene O’Neill and Ireland Dr Richard Hayes Waterford Institute of Technology Public Lecture, University of Malta, Valetta 23 November 2016 I Iŵ pƌeseŶtiŶg these ƌeŵaƌks Ŷot oŶlLJ oŶ ŵLJ oǁŶ ďehalf ďut oŶ ďehalf of Đolleagues assoĐiated ǁith the PeƌfoƌŵiŶg the ‘egioŶ theatƌe studies pƌojeĐt at the School of Humanities at Waterford Institute of Technology. 1 That project looks to understand the relatioŶship ďetǁeeŶ the theatƌe that goes oŶ iŶ a ƌegioŶ aŶd that ƌegioŶs identity, and the group has work going on, for instance, on the Red Kettle Theatre Group (the Waterford-based theatre group that flourished until recently from the 1980s), work on the playwright Jim Nolan, and a new project on the work of female playwrights from the region like Teresa Deevy. Deevy is a particularly important figure. Rejected by the Abbey in the 1940s, she has only recently been recovered for the national repertoire; she is a disruptive figure in the narrative as are, we argue, all regional writers. Our project aims to correct the prevailing narrative of modern theatre in Ireland, suggesting that there are alternative ways of understanding the story than are provided for within what is broadly a Dublin-Connemara axis. Whats clear to the group is that there is a very strong relationship between not only a country but a region and the drama (and perhaps also the literature) that is written by the people of that region. In some ways, the group contends, the theatre pƌoduĐed iŶ a paƌtiĐulaƌ plaĐe is a ǁaLJ of deĐlaƌiŶg ǁheƌe LJouƌe fƌoŵ aŶd at the same time a means of understanding where you are from—and in this way is a way of peƌfoƌŵiŶg the ideŶtitLJ of that plaĐe. This is the immediate context within which are set these remarks aďout EugeŶe ONeill, a strange presence perhaps within the ĐoŵpaŶLJ aŶd aŶ uŶusual ĐhoiĐe as ƌepƌeseŶtatiǀe iŶ soŵe ǁaLJ of ƌegioŶal ǁƌitiŶg—I hope justification for that choice will emerge as we talk. What I want to play out in these remarks is something of the meaning of Ireland for EugeŶe ONeill and the meaning of Ireland in his work. How did Ireland manifest itself iŶ the plaLJs of EugeŶe ONeill, aŶd ǁhLJ did it appeaƌ iŶ that way rather than 1 The members of the Performing the Region Theatre Studies group at Waterford Institute of Technology are: Dr Richard Hayes, Dr Una Kealy, Kate McCarthy, Elizabeth Howard.