What lies beneath: an exploration of the unseen in John B. Keane's The field

Abstract

John B. Keane remains a hugely popular dramatist, his plays continue to fill theatres to this day, and many of his characters have transcended from the stage and reside in common cultural consciousness. This dissertation endeavours to explore this popularity through an investigation into the operation of what may be termed unseen resonance, and the resultant unconscious identifications, at play within his work, with a particular focus on The Field. Historically, Keane was a popular success long before any critical acclaim, and thus, the critical literature on his work is relatively sparse. This project attempts to address a gap in the literature in relation to Keane by presenting a thorough and multifaceted examination of his best-known work, The Field. Through the application of various theoretical filters to the work, it is hoped that possible resonant factors and identificatory processes at play within it are identified. Though resonance itself is an intangible entity, and quite an abstract form, the inquiry into it contained in this project is of merit as it adds greatly to a relatively small field of research on Keane in terms of possible further methods of reading his work. Moreover, the modes of inquiry adopted, such as the application of psychoanalytical, postcolonial, and gender related filters, offer a multi-layered reading of The Field. In essence, this dissertation maintains a narrow textual focus on The Field while applying various theoretical filters to it with strong reference to social contexts. By doing so, this project will attempt to expose the possible resonances at play behind Keane’s popularity, thereby suggesting what The Field may reflect back to audiences of themselves.