Brian Friel
Brian Friel (born
1929) is an
Irish playwright. He lived in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland until moving to County Donegal in 1967--first to Muff, then to Greencastle. He has written a number of plays, and also translated many plays from a number of other languages. His first plays, which have never been printed, were written and produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s; his first sanctioned play was staged in 1962, "The Enemy Within," and "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" (1964) made him famous not only in Ireland, but the USA as well. He used the theme of translations in one of his most famous works,
Translations (
1980). He also formed the Field Day Theatre with
Stephen Rea,
Tom Paulin,
Seamus Heaney and Seamus Deane.