As Brian Singleton acknowledges in his opening paragraph, ‘twentieth-century Irish theatre practice is remembered almost exclusively for its contributions and interventions by men’ (p. 1). The underrepresentation of women playwrights in the contemporary repertory, canon and educational curriculum, coupled with male domination of professional theatre industry across all its functions, is well rehearsed. The past two decades have seen publications that explore and deconstruct cultural representations of femininity, feminist critiques of Irish social policy, and the reinsertion of women playwrights into Irish theatre history. In this context, a book on representations of masculinity in Irish theatre might seem retrograde, but in fact Singleton's intervention into this area of scholarly dialogue raises important and unasked questions. By turning his attention to the kinds of masculinity that are represented and canonized – and those that are not – Singleton traces a relationship between hegemonic conceptions of masculinity, post-coloniality and nationalism, and situates masculinity firmly as something that is performed, rather than innate, natural or essential.

The book identifies five key areas for exploration, with the main focus on the time period since 1990, and with a necessarily brief but thought-provoking consideration of post-Celtic Tiger representations of masculinity. Singleton identifies 1990 as a turning point marked by a number of changes that are significant when considered together: the election of Mary Robinson to the office of president, changes to laws affecting women and the homosexual community, a shifting cultural landscape with a new sense of optimism and confidence, a new emerging wave of theatre practitioners coming from Trinity College's drama programme, artistic engagement with mainland Europe, and significant increases in arts funding. This created the opportunity, the desire and the means to experiment with theatre as an art form outside the established hegemonic institutions and practices.

The introduction clearly outlines the argument and provides a context for the non-Irish, or non-specialist, reader. Drawing upon Judith Butler and R. W. Connell, the performative nature of gender is outlined and the relationship between gender and hegemony is interrogated. Singleton seeks ‘an assessment of how masculinities are conceived, not simply in terms of symbolic activity but also as socially relational’, and he identifies three core elements in the constitution of hegemonic masculinity in Ireland: colonial feminization, post-colonial reinscription of gender roles, and the cult of the martyr which fosters ‘a spirit of abjection’ that shapes theatrical and culture understandings of masculinity (p. 8). Subsequent chapters explore revisions of canonical texts, as well as contemporary plays and forms, such as the monologue play that rose to prominence in the 1990s, queer performance in Ireland, the intersections of race and masculinity, and gender in Northern Irish theatre.

The book adds to a growing body of research in queer and gender studies in the Irish context, by scholars like Fintan Walsh and David Cregan, as well as key works on representing maleness such as Michael Mangan's Staging Masculinities. It is likely to prove important and influential for gender and performance scholarship in Irish studies; equally it opens new ways to read canonical work.