An Audience With Brian Friel

I have written an article on Brian Friel for studentnews.ie. However, I also wrote a separate one for Sin newspaper. This was published on 1 Nov 2011.



“Is he Brian Friel?” my fellow journalist, Ian Colgan, whispered to me, during a speech a young debater was reciting to the audience. I laughed and wrote this in my reporter’s notebook immediately.

Brian Friel, renowned playwright from the north of Ireland was due to visit NUI Galway on Thursday 20 Oct, yet here we were in the middle of a debate about the occupation movement in Wall Street, Dame Street, and even Eyre Square, though I wouldn’t call that small number of tents much of a protest.

But the occupation movement is another story entirely. I walked into this mysterious world of “Lit ‘n’ Deb”, expecting to meet the author of plays many of use have studied, such as Philadelphia Here I Come, Dancing at Lughnasa, and Translations, and what I got was a debate based on a movement that had absolutely nothing to do with literature!

As riveting and interesting as this debate was, with its strange ways - dinging a bell at random moments, banging on tables and calling “hear, hear!” when someone said something they agreed with - I had to wait an hour to review the event I had come to review.

Finally, at eight o clock, Brian Friel arrived. Though I couldn’t question him, as he would not be taking questions, it was nice to sit back and just listen.

The playwright arrived, leaning on a black cane, with a fancy silver handle. He wore a smary grey suit and a checked shirt. He hobbled onto the stage, while the audience applauded him. There was a moment’s silence as he got his bearing, and then he spoke.

The "awfully coy picture" to which Friel referred.
Picture taken from here

He began by commenting on the “embarrassing title” of the talk, and the “awfully coy picture” of him which was projected onto the screen behind him, and had been taken 50 years previous.

Then came the important part - the reason we had all gathered in this hall and sat through a debate. The room went quiet and the playwright began to read. He read two extracts from his play, Making History. It certainly was an experience, sitting there, watching his hand gestures, taking in his change in manner as he swapped between the characters in the play. Here was the play, read aloud by the man who wrote it - the way it was supposed to be read.

The reading lasted 20 minutes or so, and Brian Friel was presented with an award before hobbling off the stage, again leaning on his cane. It is then that I got to meet the man, and I must admit he looked a lot more frail close up. He took my steady hand in his trembling one, and greeted me quietly, asking me to repeat my name a number of times, before signing the back of my reporters notebook. I left the hall feeling like I’d met a celebrity. I may have had to wait a little longer than expected, but I got what I came for.

1 Nov 2011

by Jessica Thompson