The Cambridge Companion to Brian Friel

A comprehensive critical approach to Ireland's greatest living playwright, first published in 2006.

Anthony Roche (Edited by)

9780521853996, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 October 2006

198 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.442 kg

'This collection of essays offers a variety of insightful approaches to Friel beyond the obvious groupings of plays and themes.' Wasafiri

Brian Friel is widely recognized as Ireland's greatest living playwright, winning an international reputation through such acclaimed works as Translations (1980) and Dancing at Lughnasa (1990). This 2006 collection of specially commissioned essays includes contributions from leading commentators on Friel's work (including two fellow playwrights) and explores the entire range of his career from his 1964 breakthrough with Philadelphia, Here I Come! to his most recent success in Dublin and London with The Home Place (2005). The essays approach Friel's plays both as literary texts and as performed drama, and provide the perfect introduction for students of both English and Theatre Studies, as well as theatregoers. The collection considers Friel's lesser-known works alongside his more celebrated plays and provides a comprehensive critical survey of his career. This is a comprehensive study of Friel's work, and includes a chronology and further reading suggestions.

1. Introduction Anthony Roche
2. The early plays Thomas Kilroy
3. Surviving the sixties: three plays by Brian Friel 1968–71 Frank McGuinness
4. Friel and the Northern Ireland 'Troubles' play Stephen Watt
5. Family affairs: Friel's plays of the late seventies Anthony Roche
6. Five ways of looking at Faith Healer Nicholas Grene
7. Translations, the Field Day debate and the re-imagining of Irish identity Martine Pelletier
8. Dancing at Lughnasa and the unfinished revolution Helen Lojek
9. The late plays George O'Brien
10. Friel's Irish Russia Richard Pine
11. Friel and performance history Patrick Burke
12. Friel's dramaturgy: the visual dimension Richard Allen Cave
13. Performativity, unruly bodies and gender in Brian Friel's drama Anna McMullan
14. Brian Friel as postcolonial playwright Csilla Bertha
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]