Brian Friel
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Brian Patrick Friel was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. He has been
Friel's childhood home at Omagh in County Tyrone
Translations on stage in Minsk
Statue of Friel (left) and John B. Keane in Dublin
The Freedom of the City
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The Freedom of the City is a 1973 play written by Irish playwright Brian Friel. The play is set in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1970 during the Troubles, and follows three civil rights protestors who mi
Brian Friel
…the Battle of the Bogside inspired Friel's choice to write a new play set in the city. The play Friel began drafting in Derry would eventually become The Freedom of the City (1973). Defying a government ban, Friel marched with members of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association against the policy of internment on 13…
Program cover from the London premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, 1973.
Derry's Guildhall: The mayor's parlour in Guildhall is where the main characters unexpectedly find themselves.