The Transnational Roots of Key Figures from the Early Years of the Gate Theatre, Dublin

Abstract

Abstract In Gate Theatre studies, the venue’s original artistic directors, Hilton Edwards and Micheál mac Liammóir, are commonly described as ‘Englishmen’. This chapter breaks new ground by exploring the Irish roots of Edwards and mac Liammóir, and the rumours that mac Liammóir had Spanish and Jewish ancestry. ‘The Boys’ were not the only figures associated with the early Gate to have transnational backgrounds. Coralie Carmichael, the theatre’s biggest female star in its early years, was of mixed Moroccan and Scottish ancestry, and Nancy Beckh, who worked as an actor, costume designer and milliner at the Gate between 1932 and 1956, was a Dubliner of half-German descent. Using critical theories around new interculturalism, the chapter suggests that the mixed backgrounds of these artists helped them to create intercultural performances. It further demonstrates that these performances cannot be simply dismissed as those of people condescendingly engaging in cultural imperialism or shallow cosmopolitanism.