Brian Friel

Brian Friel (born 9 January 1929) is a playwright and director from Northern Ireland.

Born in Omagh, County Tyrone, he received his college education at St. Columb's College in Derry and, briefly, the seminary at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, as well as in Belfast. He taught at various schools in and around County Londonderry from 1950 to 1960.

Early career

Friel began his career by writing short stories for The New Yorker in 1959 and subsequently published two collections: The Saucer of Larks and The Gold in the Sea. His first radio plays were produced by the BBC, Belfast, in 1958. His first play — This Doubtful Paradise — premiered in 1959 and a few years later The Enemy Within (1962) gained him recognition in Ireland. Philadelphia Here I Come! (1964), The Loves of Cass McGuire (1966), and Lovers (1967) were all highly successful in Ireland, as well as overseas. The Freedom of the City (1973) is an explicitly political work about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

1980s and 1990s

Translations was premiered in 1980 at the Guildhall in Derry, Northern Ireland. Set in 1833, it is "a play about language and only about language", yet it was an instant hit as the allegorical references to the troubles in Northern Ireland at the time are, in places, overt and rather obvious.

Dancing at Lughnasa (1990) is probably his most successful play, premiered at the Abbey Theatre, and then transferred to London's West End and went on to Broadway, where it won three Tony Awards in 1992, including Best Play.

Late works

Friel's most recent work is The Home Place (2004), which after a sold-out season at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, transferred to London's West End on 25 May 2005. "The Home Place" will makes its American premiere at the Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, MN) in September 2007. Also in 2007 the Gate Theatre, Dublin, will stage Friels version on Uncle Vanya as part of the annual Dublin Theatre Festival.

Friel's success

Most of Friel's plays have been performed extensively in Dublin at the Abbey, Gate and Olympia theatres, in many West End theatres in London and on Broadway. Dancing at Lughnasa was made into a motion-picture (starring Meryl Streep, directed by Pat O'Connor, script by County Donegal playwright, Frank McGuinness) in 1998.

Brian Friel was awarded an honorary doctorate by Rosary College, River Forest, Illinois in 1974.^[1] In 1989, BBC Radio devoted a six-play season to his work, the first living playwright to be so distinguished. Friel received a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Times in 1999. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the (British) Royal Society of Literature and the Irish Academy of Letters.^[2]

Friel co-founded (together with actor Stephen Rea and fellow alumni from St. Columb's, Tom Paulin, Seamus Heaney and Seamus Deane) the Field Day Theatre Company, where many of his pieces, including Translations (1980), The Communication Cord (1982) and Making History (1988) premiered.

On 22 January 2006 Friel was presented with a gold Torc by President Mary McAleese in recognition of the fact that that the members of Aosdána have elected him a Saoi. Only five members of Aosdána can hold this honour at any one time and Friel joins fellow Saoithe Louis leBrocquy, Benedict Kiely, Seamus Heaney and Anthony Cronin. On acceptance of the gold Torc, Friel quipped, "This is Aosdana's last rights."

Friel lives in Donegal, although he used to live in Derry before 1967, and lives a life in the quiet, rural seclusion which often talks of in his plays.

Miscellaneous

1. Friel's plays are often characterised by very heavy stage directions, from which much information is alluded to, and can be gleaned about the setting, characters and meaning

2. Friel uses a lot of foreshadowing in many of his plays, sometimes subtely and sometimes (when analysing the text, it seems) more heavy handedly

Plays

• This Doubtful Paradise (1958)
• The Enemy Within (1962)
• Philadelphia Here I Come! (1964)
• Lovers (1967)
• Crystal and Fox (1968)
• The Freedom of the City (1973)
• Volunteers (1975)
• Living Quarters (1977)
• Aristocrats (1979)
• Faith Healer (1979)
• Wonderful Tennessee (1993)
• Molly Sweeney (1995)
• Give Me Your Answer, Do! (1997)
• Translations (1980)
• Three Sisters (Chekhov adaptation, 1981)
• The Communication Cord (1982)
• Making History (1989)
• Dancing at Lughnasa (1990)
• A Month in the Country (Turgenev adaptation, 1992)
• Uncle Vanya (Chekhov adaptation, 1998)
• The Yalta Game (Chekhov adaptation, 2001)
• The Bear (Chekhov adaptation, 2002)
• Afterplay (2002)
• The Home Place (2004)

See also

• List of Northern Irish writers
• Tom Murphy (playwright)
• Sean O'Casey
• John Millington Synge
• Stephen Rea

References

External links

• Aosdána biographical note
• Faber and Faber - UK publisher of Brian Friel's plays
• About Friel by Tony Coult (Faber and Faber, London, 2006) ISBN 978-0-571-23010-5

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