31st August 2011
In recognition of her contribution to the arts Irish Playwright Marina Carr was today awarded with an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature in University College Dublin. A UCD English and Philosophy graduate Marina Carr is known best for her breakthrough work The Mai which was staged in the Peacock Theatre and won Best New Irish Play in 1994.
In her citation, Dr Cathy Leeny, UCD School of English, Drama and Film, said “Marina Carr is a playwright of genius, distinguished, accomplished, and fearless. A woman warrior, the power of her creativity has made theatre that is huge in its achievement, stunningly theatrical, and internationally recognised as remarkable. The philosophical, emotional and poetic scale of her work shows audiences a world where life is intense, tragic, and hilarious; where the conversation between life and death spans the oily currents of the Styx: this is a bigger life. Her work is loved and admired by audiences and by theatre people. Her importance to students of theatre worldwide would be hard to underestimate”.
Carr's plays often include black humor and tragedy. She is distinguished, however, most notably by the fact that several of her plays are filled with classical Greek allusion or are loose retellings of classical Greek myths.
Marina Carr was born in Tullamore, County Offaly and attended UCD before becoming a writer in residence at the Abbey Theatre and adjunct Professor in Drama Studies in Trinity College. Her plays have been produced to acclaim not only in the Abbey Theatre but worldwide with commissions from the RSC and England’s National Theatre. She has won many awards for her work including, the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A number of her plays have been translated into French, German and Norwegian. She lives in County Kerry.