This collection of essays examines the work of award-winning and Tony nominated Irish playwright, Conor McPherson. McPherson's works include: The Weir, The Good Thief; This Lime Tree Bower, Shining City, and The Seafarer.

Set in a rural pub in western Ireland, "The weir" is a drama of interwoven stories as told by the locals about how they comfort and distract one another in the midst of desolation and grief.

The spellbinding premiere of The Weir at the Royal Court in 1997 was the first of many works to bring Conor McPherson to the attention of the theatre-going public. Acclaimed plays followed, including Shining City, The Seafarer, The Night Alive and Girl from the North Country, garnering international acclaim and being regularly produced around the globe. McPherson has also had significant successes as a theatre director, film director and screenwriter, most notably, with his award-winning screenplay for I Went Down. This companion offers a detailed and engaging critical analysis of the plays and films of Conor McPherson. It considers issues of gender and class disparity, violence and wealth in the cultural and political contexts in which the work is written and performed, as well as the inclusion of song, sound, the supernatural, religious and pagan festive sensibilities through which initial genre perceptions are nudged elsewhere, towards the unconscious and ineffable. Supplemented by a number of contributed critical and performance perspectives, including an interview with Conor McPherson, this is a book to be read by theatre audiences, performance-makers and students who wish to explore, contextualize and situate McPherson's provocative, exquisite and generation-defining writings and performances.

THE STORY: In a bar in rural Ireland, the local men swap spooky stories in an attempt to impress a young woman from Dublin who recently moved into a nearby haunted house. However, the tables are soon turned when she spins a yarn of her own.

Tommy's not a bad man; he's getting by. Renting a run-down room in his Uncle Maurice's house, just about keeping his ex-wife and kids at arm's length, and rolling from one get-rich-quick scheme to the other with his pal Doc. Then one day he comes to the aid of Aimee, who's not had it easy herself, struggling through life the only way she knows how. Their past won't let go easily, but together there's a glimmer of hope that they could make something more of their lives. Something extraordinary. Perhaps. With inimitable warmth, style and craft, Conor McPherson's THE NIGHT ALIVE deftly mines the humanity to be found in the most unlikely of situations.

THE STORY: SHINING CITY is set in Dublin, where a guilt-ridden man reaches out to a therapist after seeing the ghost of his recently deceased wife. Wrestling with his own demons, the therapist can only do so much to help. Routine visits between the

THE STORY: DUBLIN CAROL centers around John Plunkett, an undertaker in his late fifties. The play is divided into three scenes, all of which take place in his office in Dublin on Christmas Eve. In the morning we see John interacting with Mark, a tw