Performing Modernity : Culture and Experiment in the Irish Free State

An exploration of modernism's influence on the bohemian and counter-cultural movements in theatre, popular culture and design in the post-independent Irish Free State. Were there flappers in Ireland? Was there really a Cabaret Club in Dublin in 1926? Using photographs, theatre and costume designs, letters, newspaper accounts, novels and other historical sources this book explores an Irish Free State where people go to jazz clubs, read film magazines, watch German Expressionist theatre, are interested in Soviet design, and attend fancy dress balls dressed up as their favourite Irish products.Exploring modernism’s influence on theatre, writing, design, art and film, as well as the importance of modernity in defining social identity, technology, urban life, fashion, reading, advertising and popular culture, Performing Modernity offers a wholly new perspective on life in the Irish Free State. The early years of Irish independence are often characterised as impoverished and traumatic as the