"This volume of essays forms a rich beginning for the development of Irish performance studies." - Aoife Monks, TDR: The Drama Review "This book has the energy and excitement of a newly discovered mine of research, that of Irish performance studies. Interdisciplinary and eclectic in scope, the collection analyzes past and contemporary performances of Irish culture. The ... Read morelens of performance studies presents Irish identities and traditions in the making, at once historically located and continually changing in the light of contemporary interpretations, conditions and urgencies. This collection offers striking juxtapositions and theoretical frameworks which offer new insights into the making of Irish culture - past and present." - Professor Anna McMullan, University of Reading, UK "This is a groundbreaking collection that brings together some of the most important scholars in the area of Performance Studies in Ireland, and [...] has helped in no small part to galvanise that field and the broader field of Irish Studies. " Anne Muhall, University College Dublin, Ireland "An engrossing, lively, timely, and important collection. The editors have chosen well - the book enriches our understanding of Ireland across a broad range of cultural activities. The essays exemplify, probe, illuminate, and analyze the very rich performative landscape of Ireland. This book opens up new vistas to scholars of performance studies and Irish studies - and to anyone else wanting to learn more about the ebullient action of Irish culture." Richard Schechner, New York University, USA "The evocative metaphor of crossroads provides both a title and a theme for this collection of essays on cultural performances. Exploding the hermetic discipline of Irish studies which has primarily confined itself to post-colonial discourse in the last one hundred years the wide-ranging contributors to this expansive volume apply the logic of performance studies to a variety of cultural and social performances, from parades to political speeches, from pilgrimages to beauty pageants, and, of course, the theatre an important new reader in Irish theatre studies." - Sara Keating, Irish Theatre Magazine Show Less