Monday 2 June 2014

TRANSLATIONS



We went to see Translations last week. This is a play by Irish playwright Brian Friel that I just love. If it is on the radio or there is a production nearby, I will make whatever effort it takes to attend. It was on at Northern Stage here in a beautiful, faithful production in front of a packed house. Four hundred and fifty people on a Wednesday night in Newcastle to see a play set in 19thC rural Ireland.

It is show not tell again [see Late Spring post below] and is about a platoon of English soldiers who have been sent into the countryside to re-write the Gaelic roadsigns and place-names into English. A young lieutenant falls in love with a local girl and there are consequences. It is about cultural imperialism of course. I was amused to see that it recently played to packed houses in Minsk. Wonder what how a play about cultural imperialism went down in Belarus?

Liam Neeson starred in the very first production in Derry back in 1980. What a firecracker he must have seemed then. 

No comments:

Post a Comment