The Rockingham Shoot and Other Dramatic Writings

by John McGahern

Sinclair; The Sisters; Swallows; The Rockingham Shoot; The Power of Darkness John McGahern, the leading Irish novelist of his generation, wrote a substantial number of compelling scripts for radio and television. This volume brings together five of his produced works, at the heart of which sits the previously unpublished The Rockingham Shoot , a dark and powerful play for television that concerns a Nationalist teacher whose attempt to prevent his pupils beating at a pheasant shoot held in honour of the British Ambassador leads to a shockingly violent incident. Collectively, these dramatic works offer an evocative and often stark account of a deeply troubled and divided nation.

208 pages, Hardcover

Published August 9, 2018

About the author

McGahern began his career as a schoolteacher at Scoil Eoin Báiste (Belgrove) primary school in Clontarf, Ireland, where, for a period, he taught the eminent academic Declan Kiberd before turning to writing full-time. McGahern's second novel 'The Dark' was banned in Ireland for its alleged pornographic content and implied clerical sexual abuse. In the controversy over this he was forced to resign his teaching post. He subsequently moved to England where he worked in a variety of jobs before returning to Ireland to live and work on a small farm in Fenagh in County Leitrim, located halfway between Ballinamore and Mohill. His third novel 'Amongst Women' was shortlisted for the 1990 Man Booker Prize.
He died from cancer in Dublin on March 30, 2006.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tibor Fischer says somewhere that a writer has two phases - at the start when a publisher won’t touch anything he writes, no matter how good it is; and at the end when the publisher wants whatever he writes, no matter how bad it is.

This is a grab-bag of forgettable scripts for radio, TV, and an updated version of an unsuccessful stage play. John McGahern was a great writer but a great dramatist he was not. Hope the forthcoming Selected Letters is better.