The Bishop and the Nightie: censure in television
The most memorable scandals in Irish life feature a fulminating bishop and this is no exception. This brief controversy is infamous but why do we find it so compelling? Dr Morgan Wait joins me to talk about television and titillation in 1960s Ireland.
Mastodon
Theatre riots might capture the imagination but audiences, critics and authority figures shape theatre in other less dramatic ways. Guest Dr Barry Houlihan talks about his new book Theatre and archival memory: Irish drama and marginalised histories 1951-77 (2022)
A tour of the maze of committees that controlled who read what in Irish public libraries. Public libraries were one of the most important sources of reading material for ordinary people.
Everyone wanted a piece of Roger Casement, but which piece? Carefully extracting his skeleton from heavy London mud in 1965 didn’t end the controversy over his life and lusts.
The scandal over Roer Casement’s diaries is huge. It’s past time I read the smut and examined the censure of the man and his writings.
Liam O’Flaherty was the angriest Irish author of his generation, raging against ‘soutaned witch-doctors’ (Catholic priests). With guest, Teresa Dunne
A novel famous for the furious reaction it provoked in the people of Delvin, Co Westmeath. But how do boycotts work and why are they so terrifying?
The Playboy Riots were a notoriously rowdy series of audience protests in the Abbey Theatre. The patrons were so offended by The Playboy of the Western World their loud singing and heckling drowned out the actors. This much-studied moment in Irish cultural history deserves a deep-dive into the play itself and the over-reaction to its performance.
With guest, Dr Lloyd (Maedhbh) Houston, I discussed the play and the uproar it caused, paying particular attention to drunken singing and the comedy act of one protestor, Mr Overcoat.
One of the many bestsellers from the 1930s which was banned. When this novel was on sale after it was banned, the unfortunate bookseller was prosecuted.
I really didn’t like this novel, but millions of James Bond can’t be wrong, can they?
