Friel, Brian

born Jan. 9, 1929, near Omagh, County Tyrone, N.Ire.

Irish dramatist and short-story writer.

Friel taught school in Londonderry before settling in County Donegal, Ireland. After The New Yorker began publishing his stories, he turned to writing full time. His first dramatic success was Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1963). Later he wrote about the dilemmas of Irish life and the troubles in Northern Ireland in such plays as The Freedom of the City (1973) and Making History (1988). Many of his plays

notably Translations (1980) and Dancing at Lughnasa (1990, Tony Award; film, 1998)

deal with family relationships and their connection to language, customs, and the land. His short-story collections include The Diviner (1983).

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▪ 1996

      The 1995 revival of Brian Friel's Translations at New York City's Plymouth Theatre demonstrated the continuing power of Irish drama. In the tradition of such Irish playwrights as John Millington Synge and Sean O'Casey, Friel rooted his works firmly in the history and culture of the Irish people yet still spoke to the universal problems affecting the human condition.

      Friel was born on Jan. 9, 1929, outside the town of Omagh in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. When he was 10, his family moved to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, where his father served as a school principal. Friel studied for the priesthood at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland, and earned a B.A. in 1948. After deciding against entering the priesthood, Friel returned to Northern Ireland, where he studied at St. Joseph's Teacher Training College, Belfast. In 1950 he accepted a teaching position in Londonderry, and he taught there for 10 years. During this period Friel started to write, and his short stories began appearing in The New Yorker.

      In 1960 Friel left teaching to write full time, concentrating on short stories but also turning his attention toward drama. In 1963 he went to the U.S. and spent six months working at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minn. When he returned to Northern Ireland, Friel wrote the play that became his first critical and commercial success, Philadelphia, Here I Come! It was first produced at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 1964 and focused on a young Irish immigrant, Gar O'Donnell, as he prepared to leave for the U.S. The play was well received by both the public and the critics, who hailed Friel's unconventional approach: he used two actors to convey the public and private sides of the main character.

      Following the success of Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Friel moved to County Donegal, Ireland. There, over two decades, he produced an impressive output; he wrote plays at the rate of almost one a year. In 1980 Friel and actor Stephen Rea formed the Field Day Theatre Company in Londonderry. The new company's first production was Translations, a play that addressed the existing troubles in Northern Ireland by focusing on the collision between English and Irish culture and language in 19th-century Donegal. By 1990 Friel had firmly established himself as one of Ireland's leading dramatists. The Abbey Theatre's production of Dancing at Lughnasa was hailed by critics in every city it played. Although some of his other works, notably Wonderful Tennessee, did not meet with the same critical acclaim, the 1995 revival of Translations proved to be a critical and commercial success, demonstrating Friel's continuing appeal. (JOHN H. MATHEWS)

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▪ Irish playwright

born Jan. 9, 1929, near Omagh, County Tyrone, N.Ire.

      playwright noted for his portrayals of social and political life in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.

      Educated at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth (B.A., 1948), and St. Joseph's Training College, Belfast (1949–50), he taught school in Londonderry (Derry) for 10 years. After The New Yorker began regular publication of his stories, he turned to writing full time in 1960, issuing short stories and radio and stage plays. After a six-month tutelage at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minn., U.S., in 1963, he wrote his first dramatic success, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, produced first by the Dublin Theatre Festival (1964) and subsequently appearing in New York City and London to critical and popular acclaim. The play told of a young Irishman's mood changes in contemplating emigrating from Ireland to America. Soon, Friel himself was settled in County Donegal, Ireland.

      After writing The Loves of Cass McGuire (1966), Lovers (1967), Crystal and Fox (1968), and The Mundy Scheme (1969), he turned more to political themes, relating the dilemmas of Irish life and the Troubles in Northern Ireland in such plays as The Freedom of the City (1973), Volunteers (1975), Living Quarters (1977), and Making History (1988). Many of his plays—notably Aristocrats (1979), Translations (1980), and the Tony award-winning Dancing at Lughnasa (1990; film adaptation, 1998)—deal with family ties, communication and mythmaking as human needs, and the tangled relationships between narrative, history, and nationality. In Faith Healer (1979) and Molly Sweeney (1994) Friel constructed plays consisting entirely of monologues.

      Beginning in the late 1990s he wrote a number of adaptations of the work of Anton Chekhov (Chekhov, Anton), including Uncle Vanya (1998), The Yalta Game (2001, based on Chekhov's story “The Lady with a Lapdog”), and The Bear (2002). Friel explored the tensions implicit in English stewardship over Irish land during the burgeoning years of the Irish Home Rule movement of the late 19th century in The Home Place (2005), and in 2008 he presented an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen (Ibsen, Henrik)'s Hedda Gabler.

      In 1980 Friel founded the Field Day Theatre Company in Londonderry, N.Ire., with the actor Stephen Rea, and in 1983 the company began publishing pamphlets, and later anthologies, aimed at the academic community on a wide variety of historical, cultural, and artistic topics.

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