Irish Theatre, Human Rights and Women Changemakers

This article explores the theatrical treatment of human rights and the contributions of women playwrights on the Irish stage from the birth of the Irish nation with the creation of the Abbey Theatre in 1904, Field Day Theatre Company in 1980 or Smashing Times Theatre Company in 1991 to more recent productions in 2022; from Lady Gregory, Mary Manning, Dorothy Macardle, Mary Devenport O’Neill, Kate O’Brien to Mary Moynihan and Sinéad McCoole. Then it highlights the importance of Frielian female characters in the debate about human rights as an imaginative understanding of suffering. And finally, it gives an insight into the performativity of equality, rights and values through the medium of voices, bodies and space in relation to women changemakers in Ireland who provide alternative human rights perspectives.