From its onset with the foundation of the Abbey Theatre in the early twentieth century, Irish theatre had a cultural mission set for it. What started as part of Yeats’ philosophy of cultural nationalism continued to hold the beacon for a country trying to find its place in the world and reach an understanding of its own struggles. Such political, cultural and national consciousness of playwrights has been expressed, reworked and developed to present some of the best-acclaimed dramatic works in world literature. This seminar aims to look at several landmark works of Irish drama of the twentieth century with great regard to their specificity, in an attempt to highlight questions of time and place, as well as those related to nationhood, theatre and politics, (postcolonial) identity, dreams, fears, conflict, hope and despair.