BRIAN FRIEL

Brian Friel was born in Killyclogher, near Omagh, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, on 9 January 1929. His family moved to Derry/Londonderry in 1939, where Friel was educated in St. Columb’s College. He attended Saint Patrick's College Maynooth, before taking a post-graduate teaching course in St. Joseph’s Training College, Belfast. He began teaching in Derry/ Londonderry in 1950. Residing in the border county of Derry/Londonderry, his mother was from Donegal and his family had a close connection to that county. Friel retired from his career as a teacher in 1960 to commit to writing plays full-time. He studied with the great theatre director Tyrone Guthrie in Minneapolis in 1963, and while there wrote Philadelphia, Here I Come! The play was a huge success and consolidated Friel’s career as a playwright. Friel enjoyed more major critical and commercial successes in each of the following three decades, particularly with Faith Healer (1979), Translations (1980) and Dancing at Lughnasa (1991). In 1967 Friel moved to Donegal, settling in Greencastle, less than 20 miles from the border. He continued to be involved in and retained a connection with Northern Ireland, treating the border as permeable rather than as a barrier or a limiting factor for his creativity. Friel continued to work in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and internationally. He established the Field Day Theatre Company in Derry/ Londonderry in 1980 alongside actor Stephen Rea. Friel’s critically acclaimed Translations was the first of many Field Day productions to be performed at Derry’s Guildhall before travelling throughout Ireland and across the world.

The first decade of the twenty-first century witnessed the continuing international popularity of his plays, and revivals of these continued in large numbers. The respect and admiration in which Brian Friel is held is reflected in the many awards and honours bestowed upon him. Dancing at Lughnasa, perhaps his most famous play, won three Tony Awards, including Best Play in 1992 and in 1998 it was adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep. Dancing at Lughnasa also received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Broadway Play and a Laurence Olivier Award (1991). Molly Sweeney and Aristocrats received New York Drama Circle awards for Best Foreign Play. Faith Healer received a Tony Award in 2006 and both Aristocrats (1988) and The Home Place (2005) won London Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Friel was awarded the title of Saoi (wise one), the highest honour bestowed by Aosdána, the Irish parliament of artists, in 2006. Other recipients of this prestigious award include Seamus Heaney and Samuel Beckett.