Publisher's Synopsis
Brian Friel is a respected Irish playwright whose reputation is growing rapidly in Britain and the United States. This full-length assessment of Friel and his work identifies him as the "Irish Chekhov", and places him in the context of the development of Irish drama and of the European theatrical tradition.;Richard Pine looks at Friel's role as a man of the theatre, and as a political activist, and provides a framework for understanding his origins as an Ulsterman. He follows Friel's exploration of different "concepts of Irishness", investigates the role of drama in modern Irish society, and locates Friel firmly in the vanguard of writers who are exploring the emergence of a modern nation state.
