Writing for students and general readers, Trotter offers an account of Irish drama and performance from the 1890s to 2007, structured into four parts, within a broad cultural-studies framework. As it is more than a decade since prior overview studies have appeared, she brings the reader up to the Celtic Tiger period, and shifts the ground of analysis towards theatre rather than drama. An emphasis on playwrights and playtexts, however, remains. Trotter's combinative approach works best in part one (1891–1916), where there are wonderfully vivid accounts of plays, individuals and events. This offers fresh insights into the performer–audience relationship when theatre was often an expression of national aspiration. Part two (1916–48) then covers a long and arguably varied period. Trotter's exciting idea of O'Casey's The Shadow of a Gunman at the Abbey Theatre being virtually a site-specific performance deserves further development. Despite the cover's fashionable pitch for the book as performance-based, the lively and enticing plot summaries of individual plays, such as Juno and the Paycock, contribute much.

Part three (1948–80) is less considered in tone, and Trotter recognizes how the variety of theatre practices and styles in more recent decades complicates her task. Given her cultural-studies framework, arguments about how Irish theatre has been, or has failed to be, politically or socially engaged are not fully confronted. For example, changes made by women in Irish society in the 1970s and 1980s are evidenced by J. B. Keane's addition of Maggie's closing monologue in Big Maggie (1969) for its 1980s revival at the Abbey Theatre (pp. 138–9). Maggie's added apologia shows how Keane and director Ben Barnes understood the changed expectations of an audience ready to consider the oppression of women in independent Ireland. In part four (1980–2007), the query ‘What is an Irish play?’ (aptly the title of the Conclusion) dominates, and identity as the key issue in Irish theatre seems, finally, to fall apart.

Strongest in its first two parts, and always stimulating, Modern Irish Theatre will, I hope, get a second printing and thus a chance to correct the many spelling errors (especially of proper names), and some errors of fact. These seem petty at first, but combined they undermine the confidence of the reader. Still, this is an animating and fluent introduction to Ireland's theatre, successfully signposting the reader towards more in-depth research adventures.