THE HANGOVER REPORT – Irish Rep launches its Friel Project season with a quietly riveting, pitch perfect revival of Brian Friel’s TRANSLATIONS

Oona Roche, Owen Laheen, and Owen Campbell in Irish Repertory Theatre’s production of “Translations” by Brian Friel (photo courtesy of Irish Rep).

This week, I was able to catch up with Irish Repertory Theatre’s Off-Broadway revival of Translations by the great Brian Friel, one of the indisputable giants of Irish drama. The production marks the first of three productions of Irish Rep’s Friel Project season (the other two being Aristocrats and Philadelphia, Here I Come!). Set in the early 19th century in a fictional Irish town known as Baile Beag (or “Ballybeg”, where many of Friel’s plays take place), the work is in essence a depiction of the consequences of colonialism as Ireland strives to move progress forward.

The play above all is about language, particularly the slow death of the Irish language in the wake of the adoption of English as the standard for international communication. More compellingly, Translations is a rich study of how words often fail us in realms ranging from cross-border relations to more intimate affairs. In just a few elegant strokes, Friel is able to convey all this and more (the romantic moonlit scene that concludes the first act is a prime example of how the playwright weaves humanity into his intellectual musings about language). Thankfully, Doug Hughes’ quietly riveting, pitch perfect revival easily conveys the multiple layers of the play while remaining top notch drama.

The production is chock full of rich characterizations, starting with the dashing and charismatic Seth Numrich as the translator caught between the British and the Irish denizens of his hometown. Other standouts include Raffi Barsoumian and Mary Wiseman as star-crossed lovers (their chemistry palpable in the aforementioned moonlit scene), as well as Seán McGinley as a world-weary school master with a taste for the spirit. The Irish Rep revival has proven to be a hit with audiences – due to strong ticket sales, it’s been extended run through the end of the year, and rightfully so.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

TRANSLATIONS
Off-Broadway, Play
Irish Repertory Theatre
2 hours, 15 minutes (with one intermission)
Through December 31

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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