Brian Friel Archives - North West End UK

Dancing at Lughnasa – Royal Exchange Theatre

16Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Dancing at Lughnasa – Royal Exchange Theatre

Writer Brian Friel is universally regarded as one of the leading figures in English language drama, a reputation which seems to grow with every passing year since he died in 2015. The style of his work, examining the transitional culture and politics in Irish society in the 20th Century, has drawn serious comparisons with Miller, Williams and especially Anton Chekhov. This Autumn, in a continuation of their recent return to form, the Royal Exchange has teamed up with The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield to produce a spellbinding production of ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’, Friel’s exploration of his memories of growing up in rural 1930s Ireland. The comparisons of Friel with Chekhov are a serious one; both writers work is set in communities on the cusp of radical change from rural to industrial ec...

Dancing at Lughnasa – Crucible Theatre

Riveting and far reaching, a masterclass of storytelling. The Sheffield Theatres and Royal Exchange Theatre Production of Dancing at Lughnasa is inspired by its renown writer’s own life and Brian Friel’s powerful play is given an outstanding outing by the new Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Elizabeth Newman. Newman’s vision is crisp, captivating and concise, disregarding sentimentality and instead allowing the audience to witness the societal change on a generation with great intricacy and care. It is harvest time in 1936, rural Donegal, Ireland and we meet the five unmarried Mundy sisters. Their lives are marred with hardship yet laced with unfulfilled and often hidden dreams and in one season their mundane lives are changes irrevocably. Enter Uncle Jack, a clergyman of the...

Faith Healer – Lyric Hammersmith

This season the Lyric in Hammersmith are showcasing some of the best classic pieces of British and Irish Theatre for modern audiences. Faith Healer was written by Brian Friel in the 1970s and will appeal mostly to audience’s who lived through or understand the political context of the time. Rachel O’Riordan’s direction is imaginative and powerful use of spacing helps to lift moments in this play. However, the stream of consciousness nature of the monologues in the play could lose some audience members. The key flaw here being that this is a play from another Era and audiences today will only give an awkward chuckle to moments that would have initially intended to fill a room with hysteria. Nonetheless, as Rachel O’Riordan describes ‘some of the best British and Irish talent around’ have be...