"This is the first book-length study dedicated to the Ulster Literary Theatre. The Ulster Literary Theatre was considered by many contemporaries to be the equal of the Abbey Theatre, certainly in terms of energy, output and nationalist commitment. In the first decade of its existence this Belfast company produced a number of significant and exciting works, including the early efforts of Rutherford Mayne and the extraordinary burlesques of Gerald MacNamara. In so doing, it provided a key forum in which the North's cultural politics could be explored and performed. Drawing particularly on the northern group's early history, Eugene McNulty explores this intriguing performance history of Belfast's own nationalist theatre."--Jacket.