Killyclogher born playwright Brian Friel dies aged 86

“The nation and the world have lost one of the giants of theatre” upon hearing the news that Irish playwright Brian Friel has died at the age of 86.

He was best know for plays such as Translations, Dancing at Lughnasa and Philadelphia, Here I Come.

Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa, set in Ballybeg, a rural settlement in remote Donegal, won three Tony Awards in 1992.

Arts minister Heather Humphries said this morning she had learned of the playwright’s death “with great sadness”.

Play write Brian Friel (R) with Actors Ciaran Hinds as Gurov and Kelly Reilly as Anna who star in his play The Yalta Game, which open’s in The Gate Theatre Dublin on 2nd October 2001 at the rehearsal in The Gate. He was man who placed his work above himself and allowed it the space to speak for itself with the remarkable, deft language he used.

Deputy Martin commented, “Brian Friel is truly one of the greatest playwrights our country has ever produced”. Two of this Irish writer’s works in particular strike me as masterpieces – Faith Healer and Translations.

“He was renowned on Broadway, where many of his plays ran to great acclaim. His affection for everyday subject matter was matched by his understanding of the human condition”, she said.

Friel was educated at St Columb’s College, Derry, and Maynooth, where he graduated in 1948.

He also wrote adaptations of works by Turgenev and Chekhov. In 1954, A Sort of Freedom – his first play – was broadcast by the BBC.

In 1980 Friel founded the Field Day Theatre Company in Derry with the actor Stephen Rea.

The Taoiseach said Friel’s plays would “forever form part of the canon of greatness in dramatic writing” and called him “the consummate Irish storyteller”.