Chapter 4 - Palgrave’s Golden Treasury

Summary

This chapter considers the backdrop – both political and theatrical – of an Ital. title?1861 play by Edmund Falconer, Peep O’Day. ital Peep illustrates the complexity of dramatic adaptation in the 1860s, when plays which borrowed from each other as well as from novels. Falconer’s adaptations disguised his play’s resonance with contemporary Fenian activity, particularly the spectacular Dublin funeral of Terence Bellew McManus. ital Although Peep O’Day was set in another politically charged year, in the aftermath of the 1798 uprising, it dispelled the specter of rebellion by staging Irish popular ritual and performance (patterns, faction fights, whiteboy masks, and threats). Many of Falconer’s tactics were then borrowed by other playwrights, ital including Dion Boucicault, in Arrah-na-Pogue[GK1].