현존하는 가장 위대한 아일랜드 극작가인 브라이언 프리엘 비평의 대부 분은 그의 작품을 현대아일랜드의 역사/문화적 맥락에 굳게 위치시키고 그 맥락 아래 서 연구를 진행해왔다. 따라서 이들 프리엘 연구의 의도하지 않았던 결과 중 하나는 그의 작품들을 아일랜드 안에 가두고 지역화시킴으로써 현대희곡의 주변에 머무르게 했다는 점이다. 본 연구는 프리엘의 대표작 중 하나인 「루나사에서 춤을」을 아일랜드 로부터 탈맥락화시키고 브레히트, 테네시 윌리엄즈, 체호프 등의 작가들과 연계시켜 트랜스내셔녈한 관점에서 재조명하려는 시도이다.

In Irish peasant dramas, the political movement for the emancipation of the farmers tended to idealize the rural world, which was made a symbol of Ireland and the new nation. In many of these plays Rutherford Mayne showed his interest in rural Ireland. His concern for agrarian matters was not only an intellectual or artistic one. He articulated his professional experiences with the inhabitants of rural Ireland and the redistribution of the land in his plays. The Troth is an historical play. It tries to evoke the mood of need and misery prevailing in the years of Famine. Several allusions give its setting a definite place in Irish history. The murder just seems to be a passionate act of revenge, disconnected from any effective political movement. The violence in Red Turf springs from a different source: the main character is placed in such a humiliating situation that he loses his patience at the climax of the conflict. In each of Rutherford Mayne’s plays the passionate reaction of the main character springs from circumstances which lie outside his own person and which he believes to be unable to cope with. The different motivations of the violent deeds are reflected in the structures of the two dramas. In the exposition of Rutherford Mayne's plays a situation is lined out which is not dramatic itself: The farmers are about to submit to a menace beyond their power; the cruelty of the landlord in one play and the ruthlessness of acquisitive neighbor in the other. In both plays it is the figure of a neighbor who brings the latent conflict to the surface. Passion and violence create a feeling of suffering which borders on tragedy.

The first significant modern theatre movement in Korea arose in the early 1920s. Modern Irish drama and its theatre movement has always been a major field of interest for the Korean intellectuals and dramatists who believed that it provided a model for the modern Korean theatre. The importation of Irish drama was systematically conducted by different groups from the Korean intellectuals in the 1920s and 1930s, during which period many of them published articles concerning Irish drama and the Irish theatre movement. A famous Korean writer Hyo-Seok Lee(1907-1942) published an article titled 'A Research about John Millington Synge's Drama' in 1930, a compressed version of his BA degree essay in Monthly Dae-joong-gong-ron(Public Opinion). However, despite of his fame and popularity as a writer and material for academic research, this article has been forgotten and has remained unknown. Majority of Korean scholars concentrate on Lee's novel and essays while comparatively neglecting Lee's interest towards Irish drama. The main areas of discussions are the followings. First, socio-cultural significance of Irish impact on Korean theatre will be discussed. Second, in the context of Irish influence on Korean drama, the main feature of Lee's viewpoint towards Synge will be examined in comparison with other politically oriented Korean essays.