“The most cooperative of writers”: Brendan Behan’s Collaboration with Carolyn Swift on The Quare Fellow

Abstract

: Brendan Behan was a writer for whom collaboration was a central part of the creative process. His work for the inherently social art of theatre thus provides a fascinating case study through which to examine collaborative textual geneses, particularly when there is an archival trail that enables us to analyse these collaborations. Building on the recent turn in genetic criticism towards the study of collaborative creative processes, this article draws on the recently acquired papers, at the University of Galway, of Pike Theatre co-founder Carolyn Swift, who was central to the editing of Behan’s plays for performance. Focusing on drafts of The Quare Fellow (first staged 1954), the essay shows that Swift deleted multiple instances of violent language from Behan’s manuscript, suggesting that the play’s violence was censored by this key collaborator. Bringing the tools of genetic criticism to bear on Behan’s theatre work demonstrates the significance of Swift’s role in Behan’s collaborative creative practice and the centrality of collaboration to his aesthetic. In conclusion, the article calls for a revised reader’s edition of Behan’s plays which would take into account the collaborative nature of his theatre work.