The Communication Cord by Brian Friel

by Brian Friel

Excellent Book

Genres: Irish Literature, Plays

Paperback

First published May 1, 1983

About the author

Brian Friel is a playwright and, more recently, director of his own works from Ireland who now resides in County Donegal.

Friel was born in Omagh County Tyrone, the son of Patrick "Paddy" Friel, a primary school teacher and later a borough councillor in Derry, and Mary McLoone, postmistress of Glenties, County Donegal (Ulf Dantanus provides the most detail regarding Friel's parents and grandparents, see Books below). He received his education at St. Columb's College in Derry and the seminary at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth (1945-48) from which he received his B.A., then he received his teacher's training at St. Mary's Training College in Belfast, 1949-50. He married Anne Morrison in 1954, with whom he has four daughters and one son; they remain married. From 1950 until 1960, he worked as a Maths teacher in the Derry primary and intermediate school system, until taking leave in 1960 to live off his savings and pursue a career as writer. In 1966, the Friels moved from 13 Malborough Street, Derry to Muff, County Donegal, eventually settling outside Greencastle, County Donegal.

He was appointed to the Irish Senate in 1987 and served through 1989. In 1989, BBC Radio launched a "Brian Friel Season", a series devoted a six-play season to his work, the first living playwright to be so distinguished. In 1999 (April-August), Friel's 70th birthday was celebrated in Dublin with the Friel Festival during which ten of his plays were staged or presented as dramatic readings throughout Dublin; in conjunction with the festival were a conference, National Library exhibition, film screenings, outreach programs, pre-show talks, and the launching of a special issue of The Irish University Review devoted to the playwright; in 1999, he also received a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Times.

On 22 January 2006 Friel was presented with a gold Torc by President Mary McAleese in recognition of the fact that the members of Aosdána have elected him a Saoi. Only five members of Aosdána can hold this honour at any one time and Friel joined fellow Saoithe Louis leBrocquy, Benedict Kiely (d. 2007), Seamus Heaney and Anthony Cronin. On acceptance of the gold Torc, Friel quipped, "I knew that being made a Saoi, really getting this award, is extreme unction; it is a final anointment--Aosdana's last rites."

In November 2008, Queen's University of Belfast announced its intention to build a new theatre complex and research center to be named The Brian Friel Theatre and Centre for Theatre Research.

Reviews

[Noor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Constante opkomst en afgang van allemaal verschillende karakters die zichzelf dieper in de nesten werken terwijl ze de schijn proberen hoog te houden. Grappig en chaotisch. Soort van Fawlty Towers, maar dan met meer diepgang.

[Nick Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been reading works by Brian Friel and this was in the city library. I hadn’t heard of it and I presume it is generally seen as a minor work. I’m not going to disagree with that, but it is quite fun. A farce, written for the Northern Irish Field Day Theatre Company, the original run in Derry stared Stephen Rea. It does what farces do: there is an original sin, a lie, then one thing leads to another, everything gets out of hand and comic chaos is created. Tim Gallagher is a timid academic who is trying to impress his girlfriend’s father by pretending that the traditional Irish cottage owned by his friend Jack is his. The potential father-in-law is a Senator in the Irish parliament and an enthusiast about Irish traditions. From this lie chaos ensues. An old flame of Tim’s, Claire, happens to be staying at the cottage and Tim tries to disguise her identity, claiming she is a French woman who lives nearby, on the spur of the moment he uses the name of a woman Jack is planning to meet....and, of course, the real French woman later turns up. And there is a similar confusion about a German neighbour who also later turns up. If we want to think of it as something a bit more serious than just a farce, in the way many people respond to the comedies of Alan Ayckbourn or Michael Frayn, then I suppose we can see it as a satire on the pretensions of the Irish middle classes, but I’m not sure if we need to do that. If I enjoyed it more than the work of Ackybourn or Frayn that might be because of the mood I was in at the time, or just that I’m more sympathetic to Friel.

[Gregory Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this because I’m writing about Translations in a graduate English class. It’s a funny play with a lot of mayhem due to one silly relationship scheme. Very happy I read it and although not entirely sure what I’ll write about, I do think Friel is commenting about love as being the one thing that people might be able to communicate with clarity.