Sex, Class and the City: Site-Specific Roots and Routes

Abstract

Emigration, exile and travel have been recurring features of the theatre and performance practices examined in previous chapters. From Panti’s documented trips to London and Tokyo, to the scattered diaspora creatively assembled in Silver Stars, we have seen how coming out in Irish culture has also frequently involved moving away. It has also become apparent how even though the production of queer theatre tends to be very localised and take place in urban hubs, queer performance narratives tend to be less geographically anchored, frequently trailing around the world, charting the pains and pleasures of staying and leaving home. As I have accounted for them so far, these varied trajectories have been motivated both by desires to escape oppressive situations, and by more benevolent yearnings for adventure. In this chapter I extend these lines of inquiry further, by examining queer theatre and performance that is particularly focused on urban space and place, as both subject matter and as production context. Moreover, I consider work which shines light on queer working-class experiences of Dublin, and a section of people divided between optimistically surfing a rising tide, and perilously sinking below its surface.¹

‘There’s a funeral for the flats tonight […] We’re still here.’

Danny, Danny and Chantelle (Still Here)

‘All falling to fuck […] Broken. But we keep going.’

Older Man, Trade