“Traitors to the Prevailing Mythologies of the Four Others Provinces”?: A Tribute to Field Day on Their Twentieth Anniversary

Abstract

Focusing on border-crossing as central to Field Day’s agenda, this article will try and assess the contribution made by the Derry-based company
in terms of having created or enabled movement, both literally and metaphorically in the artistic and cultural scene in Ireland. To what extent have Field Day actually proved instrumental in challenging orthodoxies, in crossing or shifting critical boundaries, in clearing a new space ? Three main domains of intervention can be identified, starting with the most obvious : their challenge to the existence of partition in the way they toured Ireland and the
theoretical counterpoint to this literal - though highly symbolic - spatial mobility, namely the company’s exploration of the fifth province. Another form of border crossing was Field Day’s insistence on imagining and articulating itself as a committed theatre company in which artists would not shy away from the political but would welcome it, would acknowledge their responsibility in shaping perceptions and generating debate. Thirdly, Field Day initiated a move
within Irish studies towards the emergence and efflorescence of post-colonial analyses through their relentless efforts to examine the causes of the crisis as
part of the legacy of a colonial situation, placing the emphasis on the northern crisis as central to any discussion of Irish identity and cultural politics.