Brian Friel, one of Ireland’s best known playwrights, has died, the Arts Council has said. From “Philadelphia Here I Come, “Faithhealer” to “Dancing at Lughnasa” these are a few of the greatest plays to be produced on a island renowned for its outstanding contribution to the arts”.
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The Irish Times reported that Friel passed away on October 2.
The first “Lughnasa worldwide Friel Festival” was held in August of this year.
This afternoon the Taoiseach said it was with sadness he was marking Friel’s passing: “The nation and the world have lost one of the giants of theatre”.
Arts minister Heather Humphries said this morning she had learned of the playwright’s death “with great sadness”.
“Brian was an inspiration to Irish playwrights, actors, directors and theatre makers”. 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.
Originally from the Tyrone village of Dromore, Friel moved to Derry at the age of 10.
He was educated in St Columb’s College – also the alma mater of Nobel prize winners Seamus Heaney and John Hume. Friel later turned to political themes, reflecting the ongoing Troubles in the north with plays such as The Freedom of the City (1973), Volunteers (1975), Living Quarters (1977), and Making History (1988).
He was also credited with adaptations of classics by Chekov, Ibsen and Turgenev among others.
A production of Dancingat Lughnasa is due to begin a run in the Dublin theatre festival next week.
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Following a visit to Tyrone Guthrie’s theatre in Minneapolis in 1963, Friel wrote his first successful play “Philadelphia Here I Come!’ which found success in Ireland, New York and London”.
