Brian Friel Biography

wrote The Enemy Within ( 1962); Philadelphia, Here I Come! ( 1964); The Loves of Cass McGuire (1966); Lovers (1967); Crystal and Fox (1968); The Mundy Scheme (1969); The Gentle Island (1971); The Freedom of the City (1973); Volunteers (1975); Living Quarters (1977); Aristocrats (1979); Faith Healer (1979); Translations (1980); a translation of Three Sisters (1981); The Communication Cord (1982); an adaptation of Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons (1987); Making History (1988); Dancing at Lughnasa (1990); The London Vertigo (1991); an adaptation of A Month in the Country (1992); Wonderful Tennessee (1993); Molly Sweeney (1994).

Dancing at Lughnasa premiered at the Abbey Theatre, transferred to London's West End and then went on to Broadway where it won three 1992 Tony Awards, including Best Play. The play has been performed around the world, including national tours of Ireland, England and Australia. His plays have been performed extensively in Dublin at the Abbey, Gate and Olympia theatres, and in many West End theatres in London, as well as New York.

Born in Omagh, County Tyrone in Ireland in 1929, Mr. Friel began writing short stories for The New Yorker in 1959 and subsequently published two collections: The Saucer of Larks and The Cold in the Sea. His first radio plays were produced by the BBC, Belfast in 1958. In 1989, BBC Radio devoted a six-play season to his work, the first living playwright to be so distinguished. He co-founded Field Day Theatre Company in Derry, Ireland, where Translations, The Communication Cord and Making History premiered.