Sir, – The Theatre of Memory symposium at the Abbey Theatre has received a warm response from the participants, admired for addressing themes that “should matter to us as a nation” (Niall McMonagle, January 20th) – memory, trauma, imagination, migrations. But what constitutes “us”?
Why were the keynote speakers, to a man, Irish born and bred? How was it that there were no contributions by resident populations not of Irish origin? Central Europeans and Nigerians, for example, have come here from cultures rich in experiment with memory and theatre.
Why did the symposium not offer any international point of view on how theatre might now impact on “us as a nation”? No speaker, of the 32, was a practitioner with experience of managing theatre overseas. Why does the Abbey not invite conflict and welcome the stranger’s gaze? – Yours, etc,
KEVIN BARRY,
Professor Emeritus,
School of Humanites,
NUI Galway.