Drama

It is the summer of 1878, a time of unrest and the early days of Ireland's 'Home Rule' movement, at The Lodge in Ballybeg, the Donegal home of the Gores, a planter family. Brian Friel's new drama continues the historical probing which culminated in Translations (1980). In that story, the effects of a military operation to map the physical contours of the Irish landscape infuse the tragedy. In this, his latest play, a scientific exercise to measure the native physique with a view to determining the Irish character inflames an already volatile social moment. The Gores, father and son, are both in love with a local woman who has worked in The Lodge since she was fourteen. All three pursue a dream of freedom from their 'history and heritage and the awful burden' of the big house.