I’m happy to report that I’m in residence in New Haven, directing the Yale Dramatic Association’s Spring Mainstage, Brian Friel’s Translations. I’ve been having a great time getting to know the Yale community, experimenting with the fantastic cast of energetic undergraduates and diving into the rich world of Friel’s 19th century Ireland. The production is one that wrestles with the impossibility of translation and the longing for home. It focuses the upheaval caused by the arrival of British soldiers in a small Irish village, and the tensions that arise as they re-map and Anglicize the parish as part of the Ordinance Survey of the 1830’s. Amidst the heartbreak, there’s also some dancing, singing and good Irish drinking.
We run Feb 22nd – Feb 25th at The University Theater.
Ticketing info and rehearsal photos to come! In the meantime, I’ll leave you with an engrossing (and short) Stephen Fry documentary on the history of the Irish language and a Friel quote prominently displayed in our rehearsal room:
All art is a diary of evolution…Map-makings.