Brian Friel Overview

Playwright Brian Friel grew up in Northern Ireland and attended Ireland's national seminary, Saint Patrick's College. But, instead of becoming a priest, took up teaching and writing. In the late 1950s, his first radio plays aired on the BBC and he... [more]

Playwright Brian Friel grew up in Northern Ireland and attended Ireland's national seminary, Saint Patrick's College. But, instead of becoming a priest, took up teaching and writing. In the late 1950s, his first radio plays aired on the BBC and he began to publish short fiction. By the mid-1960s, Friel's first Broadway play, Philadelphia, Here I Come (1964), had garnered international success. Philadelphia, like much of Friel's work, dealt with emigration and the struggle to communicate. Also like much of Friel's work, this first play examined Ireland's complex sense of disenfranchisement during the mid-20th century. Friel's subsequent works include 'Lovers' (1969), 'Translations' (1981), 'The Communication Cord' (1982), 'Making History' (1988), 'Dancing at Lughnasaand' (1990) and 'Molly Sweeney' (1994). Friel has won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best foreign play three times and has also been awarded the Laurence Olivier Award and a Tony Award. [show less]