Translations

Translations by Brian Friel is widely, and rightly, regarded as both Friel’s masterpiece and as the most significant Irish play of the last fifty years. First produced by the Field Day Theatre Company in Derry, Northern Ireland, the play was an instant success, coming as it did during one of the most turbulent years of ‘the troubles’, 1980. Friel famously stated that the play is, “about language and only language”; however the political themes are impossible to ignore. The play focuses on a small rural community in the fictional Baile Beag, Co. Donegal (where many of Friel’s plays are set), in the year 1833. The locals are introduced to two British officers, sent from London, whose job it is to map the Irish landscape and translate all the Irish place names into English. As the play progresses to its inevitable and tragic conclusion the audience are exposed to a humane and poignant treatment of the effects of colonisation and the human tragedy they produce. Friel’s skilful and humorous writing is treated with tenderness and sympathy by the I.T.P. as they bring to you what is ultimately a story about who we are as people, or peoples, and how underneath all the various flags and banners, we are ultimately the same: men and women trying to live a full and decent life.