num_pages: 182
description: THE QUARE FELLOW, a tragi-comedy, is set in an Irish prison on the eve of an execution. Beneath the gallows humour and the farce, Behan has written a savage indictment against the bestiality of capital punishment. THE HOSTAGE is set in a disreputable Dublin lodging house, where a young Cockney soldier is being held as hostage in reprisal for an I.R.A. man who is to be hanged. The play is a witty and profound comment on Anglo-Irish relations and the Irish themselves, full of rollicking comedy, satirical songs, and ballads.
language: English
title: The Quare Fellow & The Hostage
titlecomplete: The Quare Fellow & The Hostage
genres: Plays, Drama, Fiction, Irish Literature
ratings_count: 53
publisher: Grove Press