Aristocrats

by Brian Friel, Peter Fallon (Editor)

Aristocrats, first produced by the Abbey Theatre in 1979, won the Evening Standard Award for Best Play (1988) and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play (1989).
Set in Ballybeg Hall in Country Donegal, the decaying home of District Justice O'Donnell, where those who congregate for a wedding stay to attend a funeral, Brian Friel's chronicle of three sisters and their 'peculiar' brother reveals the way 'in which the ache of one family becomes the microcosm for the ache of a society'.

Genres: Plays, Irish Literature, Drama

86 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

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

[Emily Philbin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not my favourite Friel play, that's for sure, and admittedly my view of this play may be coloured by having seen a production of it the same night I read it in which I felt the character of Casimir was not well played, and they sort of botched the most emotionally charged scene I found most touching when reading it. I did find the characters quite interesting, and enjoyed witnessing the family dynamic unfold. The mix of funny and poignant moments were effective in the text for sure, but I will take Friel's "Translations," "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" and "Dancing and Lughnasa" any day over "Aristocrats"

[Nick Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve seen this called Brain Friel’s most Chekhovian play. I don’t know enough of Friel’s work to either agree or disagree, but Chekhovian is an apt description. But, on the other hand, although Aristocrats feels Chekhovian, I find it difficult to pin down what’s exactly Chekhovian – it’s an atmosphere more than anything else. Set in a contemporary Ireland (the 1970s), the play is centred on a family gathering for a wedding: they are part of the Catholic landed gentry, now in economic decline, their manor house in a state of decay, the patriarch senile and bedridden. There are three sisters – the youngest, Claire, is about to be married – and a brother, Casimir. The oldest sister Judith remains at home and looks after her father, Uncle George (who wanders around the house but never speaks) and Claire, who suffers from depression. The other sister Alice lives in London with Eamon, originally a boy from the village. We first see Alice suffering from the after effects of drinking the previous night, but it quickly becomes obvious that she is an alcoholic. Perhaps the three sisters inhabit a Chekhovian world of desperation: Judith in her routine of menial tasks, Judith in her empty London life, Claire in her purposeless life that will continue with her marriage to a much older man. But they don’t whinge about it in the way Chekhov’s characters do. Casimir seems more contented, but he is ‘odd’, lacking in self confidence (he cringes when he hears his senile father call), now living in Germany, working in a sausage factory (I presume he is the product of an English private school – maybe Stonyhurst – where he was bullied for his strangeness). Eamon is slightly apart in that he is an outsider to this privileged upbringing, but, despite a caustic attitude, he seems strangely reverential to his wife’s family. There is also a villager who helps the family out and is obviously in love with Judith, and an American academic researching the Irish Catholic landed class – he acts as a means of highlighting the family’s historical position and present decline...and finally fades out of the play. The play progresses through the detail of character, the audience gaining greater knowledge of them through their interactions: the narrative is modest, but rich in detail. If Aristocrats develops it does so through a process of enrichment, we gaining a greater understanding of the characters and their predicaments. In its polite realism Aristocrats feels a little old fashioned (I mean it would have been old fashioned in 1979), but it uses its conventions with a certain freshness: this form of realism was essential to Friel’s purpose.

[Taylor Allgeier-Follett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t really like or dislike this play, just felt rather neutral about it. I think it’s one of those plays which one really does not benefit from merely reading it, as I could see the physical and character decisions really making or breaking the play overall

[Mike Barnett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this after reading his _Translations_, which I absolutely loved. But this was truly wretched. I feel like I understand what he was trying to get across, but it is just so over-weighted and pretentious. Way too convoluted and complex.

[Valeri Drach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful sad play about the dying of an epoch. The large halls of Northern Island that once arranged the small villages are large crumbling estates, both physically and symbolically. Their demise is seen through one family who are brought together for a wedding but end up having a funeral instead.

[Adela63 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing, when you are expecting something of the category of Translations or Philadelphia. Abbey Theatre