About the Playwright

Brian Friel was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, in 1929 and now lives in Donegal, where several of his plays are set, most notably, in recent years, ‘Dancing At Lughnasa’, which was made into a successful movie, starring Meryl Streep.

Other ones of note are ‘Philadelphia Here I Come!’ and ‘Translations’, as well as ‘Aristocrats’, ‘The Communication Cord’, ‘Crystal and Fox’, ‘The Freedom of the City’, ‘The Gentle Island’, ‘Living Quarters’, ‘The London Quarters’ (after Macklin), ‘The Loves of Cass McGuire’, ‘Molly Sweeney’, ‘A Month in the Country’ (after Turgenev), ‘Selected Stories’, ‘Three Sisters’ (after Chekov), ‘Wonderful Tennessee’ and ‘Volunteers’.

As well as acclaim on the home front, Friel has enjoyed great success on Broadway with some of his plays, which are popular in many countries around the world, given the poetic richness of the language.