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Dramaturgy on the Edge (July 2010)
Performing Queer Subjectivities (Nov 2009)
Beckett Conference, Beckett and the Visual Arts (Feb 2009)
Stewart Parker Conference (Nov 2008)
ISTR (Apr 2007)
The Tyrone Guthrie Society (2000)
Brian Friel Theatre Ticket reservation line 028 9097 1382
Booking Enquires for the Brian Friel Theatre 028 909 75299 (Technical and venue hire enquires only)
School of Languages Literatures and Performing Arts office 028 9097 5363 (Educational enquires only)
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The 2 November, 2008 marks the twentieth
anniversary of the death of Stewart Parker, who was cut
down, like John Millington Synge, just as he reached the
height of his dramatic and poetic powers.
To
commemorate the life and work of Belfast’s most
visionary playwright, Queen’s Drama Department, in
association with the Institute of Irish Studies, will host the
first major international conference evaluating Parker’s
extraordinary artistic achievement.
In addition to this, and in close association with the
Stewart Parker Trust, the Belfast Festival and the BBC, an
exciting retrospective of Stewart Parker’s work will also
be hosted by Queen’s Drama Department. This will
comprise several rehearsed readings, film screenings,
walking tours, photographic displays, and the
publication of three books of Parker’s work. All this
activity will culminate in a performed miscellany of
Stewart’s work featuring Stephen Rea, Frances Tomelty,
Michael Longley and others.
I sincerely hope you’ll find these events enjoyable; that
they help to illuminate Stewart’s genius; and that they
germinate further future interest in one of the most
original and important artists to have emerged from
Belfast – though so few of its citizens presently
recognise his name.
In his work for radio, stage, and screen - as well as his
poetry, journalism and criticism - Stewart’s politics and
aesthetics were extraordinary for their pluralism and
prescience. And though this week marks the 20th
anniversary of Stewart’s death, I can think of no better
reason for staging, screening, and scrutinising his work
now, than the fact it has a greater resonance and
relevance today than it ever had in his own lifetime.
Surely there is no greater signature of genius than that?
Dr Mark Phelan
Festival & Conference organiser
QUB Drama
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