A real treat! I liked the way that the play works on different levels. The surface story, the historical, the social commentary about colonialism and the arrogance of renaming all of a country's landmarks, the idea of words as signposts, the way characters do & don't communicate even without words.

I have also listened to the BBC Radio adaptation which was marvelous. Perhaps I wouldn't have loved the written play as much if I didn't have those voices in my mind... ( )

This play is set in Ireland, in the village of Baile Beag, County Donegal, in the early 1830s. A group of English surveyors has come to town with the goal of mapping the area and standardizing/Anglicizing the place names. The play explores the clash between Irish and English cultures and by extension traditional vs. modern lifestyles. Most of the action takes place at a hedge school run by an amiable if somewhat unorthodox/absent-minded teacher, where the students learn pretty much what they want to -- and looming in the future is a new national school with a standard curriculum.

One of the interesting things about this play is that, even though it is all written in English, you have to imagine that the Irish folks are all speaking Gaelic. This can be quite amusing during the scenes where Owen is interpreting for the English surveyors. I also liked reading the Gaelic place names, although of course they probably sound even better in a live production (I can only imagine how they sound). Another interesting aspect was how deeply some of the characters immersed themselves in older languages, such as Greek and Latin. The schoolmaster was forever sprinkling his statements with Latin and he would have his students conjugate verbs, explain etymology, and decline nouns. Fun for language buffs.

Another bit of trivia: the play's first production featured a young Liam Neeson. Would have liked to see that!

To sum up, read this if you want a little dose of Ireland and some food for thought about language and how we communicate. ( )

About the only thing I can say against this play is that I'm completely incapable of imagining it inside my head. The Celtic words are so strange that they continually drag me away from the play, as I try to figure out how they sound, and the fact that Friel uses English to represent two different languages doesn't help.

But none of this is any fault of the play, but merely a symptom of my own ignorance. In truth, the play is brilliant, addressing language as both a form of healing and as a corrupting and oppressive power. ( )

Its a short three act play set in Ireland in 1833. English soldiers from the Royal Engineers have set up camp near a small catholic community in order to check the maps of the area and to Anglicise the place names. All three acts take place in the local hedge school and centre on the worsening relations between the soldiers and the locals. It is however so much more than that. During its short duration the play covers issues such as : the importance of language, failure of communications, cultural differences, community, colonialism, development and change, difficulties of making a living, and terrorism. I forgot to mention love, there are even star crossed lovers to tear at the heart strings.

The writing is superb, hardly a word wasted and after its hour and a half duration the characters will live long in the memory. The 60 year old "infant prodigy" who is fluent in Gaelic, Greek and Latin but does not speak any English. Hugh the drunken master of the school who is convinced that he is going to be master of the new proper school. Sarah who has a severe speech impediment and so has no language and doesn't count for anything. George Yolland a reluctant soldier who falls in love with the countryside and wants to be accepted by the community, but of course cannot understand anything they say.

Together with the tragedy there is much wit and humour and I found myself identifying with the Yolland character and his attempts to integrate into a different culture. There are some memorable lines (the sign of a good play):

George Yolland "Even if I did speak Irish I would always be an outsider here, wouldn't I? I may learn the password but the language of the tribe will always elude me.

Hugh "English succeeds in making it sound .....plebeian

Hugh "I'm afraid we are not familiar with your literature, Lieutenant. We feel closer to the warm mediterranean. We tend to overlook your island.

Of course to really appreciate a play it needs to be seen in performance in a theatre with a live audience, so that you can be caught up in the emotions and can laugh along with the jokes. What a performance it must have been at its first presentation at the Guildhall in Derry, with Liam Neeson, Ray McAnally and Stephen Rae in the cast ( )

Historically interesting, some scenes very well done, particular when one character was speaking in english and one in irish. ( )