Brian Friel (Born 1929) is one of Ireland’s most prominent play writers. In addition to his published plays, he has written short stories; screenplays; film; TV and Radio adaptations of his plays; and several pieces of non-fiction on the role of theatre and the artist.
Brian Friel’s plays have premiered and been produced at prestigious venues like the Abbey Theatre, London’s West End and Broadway and have been highly successful everywhere. His first major play, Philadelphia, Here I Come! Was the hit of the 1964 Dublin Theatre Festival. In 1972 he was elected as a member of the Irish Academy of Letters. In 1981, Translations, one of his seminal pieces, was awarded the Ewart Biggs Peace Prize. After co-founding Field Day, Friel continued his interest in the arts as a member of Aosdana, the national treasure of Irish artists, to which he was elected in 1982. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature by the National University of Ireland in 1983, and in 1987 was nominated to the Irish Senate. Dancing at Lughnasa, probably his most successful play so far (1993 produced also in Slovene National Theatre in Ljubljana), received three Tony Awards in 1992, including Best Play.
Translations were the first play produced by Field Day. It is set in the rural, Irish-speaking community in County Donegal in 1833. Into this world arrives a corps of Royal Engineers to conduct an Ordnance Survey of Ireland, which would map the country and ‘standardise’, or rather, anglicise, the place names. Captain Lancey and Lieutenant Yolland are being assisted by Owen, son of the local hedge-school master, High O’Donnell. The romantic Lieutenant Yolland is enchanted by the Irish names and culture and Maire (Owens’s brother, Manus’ fiancé) and Yolland fall in love. Yolland disappears, and as a punishment, Captain Lancey threatens to destroy several places in the Country. Ironically, the names of these are read in English and Owen must translate them back into Irish for the sake of the locals.