Brian Friel: Plays 2: Dancing at Lughnasa, Fathers and Sons, Making History, Wonderful Tennessee and Molly Sweeney (Contemporary Classics (Faber & Faber)) (v. 2) [Paperback]

Brian Friel (Author), Christopher Murray (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Contemporary Classics (Faber & Faber) | Publication Date: June 30, 1999

Plays Two:
Dancing at Lughnasa
Fathers and Sons
Making History
Wonderful Tennessee
Molly Sweeney

Introduced by Christopher Murray, this second collection of Brian Friel's plays includes some of his most acclaimed work for the stage.

From the troubled family life of five sisters in 1930s Donegal that is the core of Dancing at Lughnasa (now a major motion picture starring Meryl Streep) to the current-day birthday celebration that is the major external event of Wonderful Tennessee, Brian Friel demonstrates his emotional range and empathy for his characters. He evokes not simply the interior landscape of human beings trapped in their domestic situation but the wider landscape-interior and exterior-of which they are a part.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dancing at Lughnasa
"The play, brilliantly constructed, is the best Friel has yet written."--Observer

Fathers and Sons (after Turgenev)
"A delicately written play that subtly alters the emphasis of Turgenev's book in the light of modern experience."--Guardian

Making History
"This is Friel's most accomplished and important play since Translations...It has the same suppleness of argument and beauty of writing."--Financial Times

Wonderful Tennessee
"Friel is a master...The play is a brilliantly notated fugue of laughter and lament."--New Yorker

Molly Sweeney
"A dramatic poem of cumulative power and irresistible poignancy."--Observer

"Of all the contemporary authors, there is no one I admire more highly than Brian Friel...Molly Sweeney is magnificent, and I read it with great joy."--Peter Brook

"Once again, Friel has achieved a masterpiece."--Independent on Sunday

About the Author

Brian Friel was born in Omagh, County Tyrone (Northern Ireland) in 1929. He received his college education in Derry, Maynooth and Belfast and taught at various schools in and around Derry from 1950 to 1960. He is the author of many plays that have taken their place in the canon of Irish Literature, including Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1964), Lovers (1967), Translations (1980), The Communication Cord (1982), and Dancing at Lughnasa (1990). In 1980 he founded the touring theatre company, Field Day, with Stephen Rea.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber (June 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571197108
• ISBN-13: 978-0571197101
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest Irish Dramatist Alive, April 1, 2000

By 

Tom O'Leary "Writer" (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brian Friel: Plays 2: Dancing at Lughnasa, Fathers and Sons, Making History, Wonderful Tennessee and Molly Sweeney (Contemporary Classics (Faber & Faber)) (v. 2) (Paperback)

Really, to call Friel an Irish playwright is to pigeon hole him unfairly. This group of plays by Brian Friel attests to his extraordinary talent as a modern playwright, period. He dramatizes the human journey using equal doses of humor, pathos and tragedy. These remarkable, fully-dimensional characters leap of the page, or, if you're very lucky, the stage. No avid theater fan should be without these works of art. Order this collection immediately.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dramatic Readings, July 3, 2006

By 

T. Ryan "harrier" (New York, N.Y.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Brian Friel: Plays 2: Dancing at Lughnasa, Fathers and Sons, Making History, Wonderful Tennessee and Molly Sweeney (Contemporary Classics (Faber & Faber)) (v. 2) (Paperback)

Friel on the page is almost as vivid as he is on stage.