education

BRIAN FRIEL DOCUMENTARY

Screening
8pm, Thursday 16th @ The Nerve Centre Studio

Brian Friel is notoriously media-shy, but in spite (or perhaps because) of his reticence, he inspires a great deal of interest as a major modern Irish playwright. This documentary lets us glimpse the man behind such classics as Translations, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, and Dancing at Lughnasa, through the eyes of his contemporary writers and admirers.

Why, in your opinion, do some people feel it is important to find out about the lives of playwrights like Brian Friel?

Do you think knowing about Brian Friel makes any difference to how you view his plays?

A sense of place is very important in all of his plays. Why, do you think, he sets so many of them in the fictional village of Ballybeg, Co. Donegal?

His earlier plays often explored different kinds of love. List his earlier work, and try to find out what kinds of love he explores in each of them.

Philadelphia, Here I Come!
"Philadelphia was the analysis of a kind of love: the love between a father and a son, and between a son and his birthplace." (Brian Friel in Hickey and Smith's 'A Paler Shade of Green'). Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1965) is also about estrangement and alienation from those people and places the son, Gareth O'Donnell, loves. How does Friel convey this estrangement in the play?

Although Gareth (Private) has many beautifully poetic lines, silence is used to great effect by Friel in this play. What do the prolonged silences between Gerry and his father say about their relationship? Were the silences between them always interpreted this way?

Philadelphia, Here I Come! is often described as a 'memory play', exploring the power of memory. How do Gerry's memories of his childhood dictate what he does in the present, and what he might do in the future?

The ending is open-ended. Speculate how Gerry's life might unfold as the curtain goes down on the play.

Translations
Notions of history, identity and language are also themes running throughout Friel's work. This is particularly true with Translations (1980). From closer study of this particular text, can you explain the historical importance of language to the community of Ballybeg?

Translations is set in 1833. What was happening in Ireland at that time which adds to your interpretation of the play and its characters?

1980, the year when Translations was premiered, was a turbulent year in Northern Ireland. Can you research the events of that year, and suggest how they might have had an effect on audiences when interpreting the play.

Dancing at Lughnasa
Manus and Sarah are disabled in Translations. In Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), Rose is described as 'simple'. What, do you think, do the disabilities of some characters represent in the small community of Ballybeg?

Friel always communicates a sense of the outside world, even though his plays are about small, isolated communities. Dancing at Lughnasa is set in 1936. What conflicts were happening elsewhere in the world that we are reminded of in the midst of family conflict at Ballybeg?

Friel has often found innovative ways of representing drama on-stage. Dancing at Lughnasa, in particular, has been praised for the way it uses Michael as the narrator figure to integrate the atmospheric flashbacks into the drama. How does the use of the narrator within the drama add to its effectiveness?

[VHS copies of Dancing at Lughnasa (1998, Dir: Pat O'Connor, cert. PG) are available to purchase from www.blackstar.co.uk for GBP £14.99]