Translations by Brian Friel
Recently I have been reading Brian Friels book translations. Friel was born 9 January 1929, Catholic, in Omagh, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, He is one of Ireland's most prominent playwrights. In addition to his published plays, he has written short stories; screenplays; film, TV and Radio adaptations of his plays; and several pieces of non-fiction on the role of theatre and the artist. His play translations was recommended to me during a conversation I was having with a college who was interested in hearing about my MA project. This is a review by Charolotte Bradford:
This play is set in 1833, at a hedge school in the village of Baile Beag in Ireland. At this time the English army had begun to arrive in order make maps of Ireland and change the place names from Gaelic to English supposedly in order to be able to work out 'what is yours in law', really the main purpose of the new place names and the maps is so the English can work out where everywhere is in case of a war and 'for purposes of more equitable taxation'.
The play centres around several main themes: language and power, language and identity, progress and stagnation, love, past and mythology and personal versus political. Each of these themes is cleverly intertwined in the plot creating a stunning short play full of strong characters, themes and 'food for thought' for the audience.
The play is split up into three acts set over about a week in the Irish community, each of these acts gets shorter as you go along, signifying the speed of destruction or change caused by the English presence.
'Translations' is full of strong characters and each of the characters personalities and appearances hold an underlying meaning as to their situation in life. For example Manus, a monitor at the hedge school is dressed shabbily, he is pale faced and lightly built, he is also lame, Manus' appearance appears to signify the supposed appearance of the Irish, the fact he is lame signifies the disabilities of the Irish. His brother Owen who has gone to live in England and returns in order to act as translator for the army is dressed smartly, he is described as having a charming and easy manner supposedly he is like this because he has been away from the stagnant village of Baile Beag.
Baile Beag is torn between two different ideologies, the first that it should remain Baile Beag and not have its name changed, where people should be taught how to read and write in gaelic, this view is held by the older members of the community however most of the younger members would rather they were taught English as they see it as an escape route from the village. The building of the new National School is a very strong theme and presence throughout the play, teaching only English not only would this stop the continuation of the Gaelic language but also it would keep the scholars at the hedge school from education as they are too old. The National School was used as a ploy by the English to keep out indegenous people. This provides the message that Gaelic will leave you behind as English is the language of commerece and a way of escapism.
As Friel well knows, many things are lost in translation, some irrevocably. He also understands that to hold onto the past can be self-destructive. "To remember everything is a form of madness,'' says Jimmy Jack, the local literary scholar fluent in Latin, Greek and Gaelic. As Maire, who dreams of going to America, pragmatically sees it, "The old language is a barrier to progress."
As the plot unfolds this play becomes more and more gripping and intense, engaging the audience in the unfair way that the Gaelic language was filtered out almost completely. However there are a lot more interlinking themes which are just as captivating with eventual dire consequences. The play also contains several strong morals in it.
This play is set in 1833, at a hedge school in the village of Baile Beag in Ireland. At this time the English army had begun to arrive in order make maps of Ireland and change the place names from Gaelic to English supposedly in order to be able to work out 'what is yours in law', really the main purpose of the new place names and the maps is so the English can work out where everywhere is in case of a war and 'for purposes of more equitable taxation'.
The play centres around several main themes: language and power, language and identity, progress and stagnation, love, past and mythology and personal versus political. Each of these themes is cleverly intertwined in the plot creating a stunning short play full of strong characters, themes and 'food for thought' for the audience.
The play is split up into three acts set over about a week in the Irish community, each of these acts gets shorter as you go along, signifying the speed of destruction or change caused by the English presence.
'Translations' is full of strong characters and each of the characters personalities and appearances hold an underlying meaning as to their situation in life. For example Manus, a monitor at the hedge school is dressed shabbily, he is pale faced and lightly built, he is also lame, Manus' appearance appears to signify the supposed appearance of the Irish, the fact he is lame signifies the disabilities of the Irish. His brother Owen who has gone to live in England and returns in order to act as translator for the army is dressed smartly, he is described as having a charming and easy manner supposedly he is like this because he has been away from the stagnant village of Baile Beag.
Baile Beag is torn between two different ideologies, the first that it should remain Baile Beag and not have its name changed, where people should be taught how to read and write in gaelic, this view is held by the older members of the community however most of the younger members would rather they were taught English as they see it as an escape route from the village. The building of the new National School is a very strong theme and presence throughout the play, teaching only English not only would this stop the continuation of the Gaelic language but also it would keep the scholars at the hedge school from education as they are too old. The National School was used as a ploy by the English to keep out indegenous people. This provides the message that Gaelic will leave you behind as English is the language of commerece and a way of escapism.
As Friel well knows, many things are lost in translation, some irrevocably. He also understands that to hold onto the past can be self-destructive. "To remember everything is a form of madness,'' says Jimmy Jack, the local literary scholar fluent in Latin, Greek and Gaelic. As Maire, who dreams of going to America, pragmatically sees it, "The old language is a barrier to progress."
As the plot unfolds this play becomes more and more gripping and intense, engaging the audience in the unfair way that the Gaelic language was filtered out almost completely. However there are a lot more interlinking themes which are just as captivating with eventual dire consequences. The play also contains several strong morals in it.
posted by Phsteve at 3:34 AM
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