A comparative study of recent major developments in British and Irish theater. We will consider how the work of British playwrights responds to the country's post-Imperial decline in the period since the Suez Crisis, and to the broader epistemological and theatrical challenges of constructing history and cultural identity in the wake of postmodernism. Readings will include plays by John Osborne, Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, David Hare, and Tom Stoppard. Our consideration of parallel concerns with history, identity, and representation in work from the Irish Republic-a nation which has emerged from cultural insularity and poverty into burgeoning economic prosperity and exuberant cultural self-assertion in recent decades-will include readings of plays by John B. Keane, Hugh Leonard, Brian Friel, Frank McGuinness, and Martin McDonagh. Requirements: two papers (totaling 15 pages), and regular journal responses to readings. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 25). (Post-1900)