The Irish theatre of Brian Friel: Texts and contexts

This dissertation places the sixteen plays of the contemporary Irish playwright Brian Friel, one of the leading dramatists writing in the English language today, in the context of Irish culture. I investigate the various Irish myths and legends to which Friel alludes in his work, the socio-economic conditions in Ireland at the time depicted in the plays, and the historical and political events Friel has used as a basis for the plays. I look at the relationship between the literature and the society in order to determine the influence that conditions in Ireland--particularly Ulster and Northern Ireland, Friel's home--have had upon his work.;Friel's plays reveal his awareness of the political and cultural divisions that exist in his homeland and the fragmentation of the Irish psyche resulting from these divisions. This fragmentation appears in his themes and experimental dramatic techniques. His work combines a knowledge and understanding of Irish problems with an ability to universalize this knowledge so that his plays have important application for people in similar cultural conditions in other parts of the world.;Friel views Ireland's myths, stereotypes, opinions, and images of itself as both the key to understanding his country's problems and as a context that must be reexamined and reappraised if Ireland is to find a solution to its current crisis. Friel's role in the Field Day Theatre Company, an organization he founded for the purpose of taking drama to all parts of Northern Ireland and the Republic, attests to his involvement in effecting a change of consciousness among the Irish toward their country's past, her present crisis, and her future as an emerging nation. The success of Friel's latest play, Dancing at Lughnasa, a 1992 Tony winner, indicates his success in universalizing his themes to appeal to an international audience.