Translations by Brian Friel, directed by Garry Hynes
(2006)Abstract
In conjunction with Princeton University’s Irish Theatre Festival, McCarter presents two of Ireland’s greatest contemporary theater artists. Tony-winner Garry Hynes directs Translations, one of the masterworks of the Irish playwright Brian Friel. A rural 19th century Irish village faces the arrival of a corps of British military engineers, there to map the area and rename its places. The presence of these outsiders forces the inhabitants to confront a changing and uncertain future, and under this shadow an impossible romance between a soldier and a village girl begins. The winner of the 1981 Ewart-Biggs Peace Prize, Friel’s play is a moving reflection on Irish history, and a story about community, colonialism, identity and the power of language as it affects us all.