Fed up with the dreary round of life in Ballybeg, with his uncommunicative father and the humiliating job in his father's grocery shop, with his frustrated love for Kathy Doogan who married a richer, more successful young man and with the total absence of prospect and opportunity in his life at home, Gareth O'Donnell has accepted his aunt's invitation to come to Philadelphia. Now, on the eve of his departure, he is not happy to be leaving Ballybeg.With this play Brian Friel made his reputation and it is now an acknowledged classic of modern drama.
Author Biography:
Brian Friel (9 January 1929 - 2 October 2015) wrote thirty plays across six decades and is widely regarded as one
of Ireland's greatest dramatists. He was a member of Aosdána, the society of Irish artists, the American Academy
of Arts and Letters, the Irish Academy of Letters, and the Royal Society of Literature where he was made
a Companion of Literature. He was awarded the Ulysses Medal by University College, Dublin.
Plays include Hedda Gabler (after Ibsen), The Home Place, Performances, Three Plays After (Afterplay, The Bear,
The Yalta Game), Uncle Vanya (after Chekhov), Give Me Your Answer Do!, Molly Sweeney (Winner of the New
York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play), Wonderful Tennessee, A Month in the Country (after
Turgenev), The London Vertigo (after Charles Macklin), Dancing at Lughnasa (Winner of 3 Tony Awards including
Best Play, New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, Olivier Award for Best Play), Making History, The
Communication Cord, American Welcome, Three Sisters (after Chekhov), Translations, Aristocrats (Winner of the
Evening Standard Award for Best Play and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play), Faith
Healer, Fathers and Sons, Living Quarters, Volunteers, The Freedom of the City, The Gentle Island, The Mundy
Scheme, Crystal and Fox, Lovers: Winners and Losers, The Loves of Cass Maguire, and Philadelphia Here I Come!
