Friel Reimagined

Bringing Brian Friel’s work to new audiences with 📣 Talks 🎭 Workshops📱Digital archive. Funded by @HeritageFundNI & The Steel Charitable Trust.

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

📣 WORKSHOP NEWS 📣

Take a leap of faith into Brian Friel's most acclaimed plays - the moving and haunting 'Faith Healer'. Join @BruiserNI over 3 evenings on

🗓12th, 19th and 26th Oct
📍Queen's Quarter, Belfast

Admission is free and open to all ➡️ https://t.co/WsZKdB539V

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

There are mysteries at the heart of 'Faith Healer' - Frank, Grace & Teddy take turns to question what really happened, what is real, and what is possible...

Join us for 3 x evening workshops on this classic play by Brian Friel this Oct with @BruiserNI ➡️

https://t.co/kamjXkkPG6

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

'Faith Healer' flopped on its New York premiere in 1979. 😬

Yet the play would go on to gain renown as a classic of the 20th century stage.

Join our 3 x evening workshops with @BruiserNI this Oct as we do a deep dive on the play ➡️

https://t.co/kamjXkkPG6

✍️ @whackochacko

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

#BrianFriel died on this day, 2 October 2015.

His work has continued to inspire new audiences, provoking debate and generating joy, empathy and connection. He is still sorely missed - but is most certainly not forgotten.

Image from the Bobbie Hanvey Collection at Boston College

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

🪁 KATE: And they're the most wonderful kites I've ever seen. And what are these designs?

🪁 BOY MICHAEL: They're faces. I painted them.

Illustration by Ashling Lindsay inspired by #DancingAtLughnasa

#BrianFriel #Theatre

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

Michael's Uncle Jack, the eldest of the Mundy siblings, is a missionary priest who has just returned from Africa.

But he has come home to Ballybeg and seems more attached to the Ryangan culture he has left behind.

✍️ by Ashling Lindsay inspired by Dancing at Lughnasa

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

"If you knew your prayers as well as you know the words of those oul' pagan songs!"

Kate Mundy, aged forty, is a schoolteacher and the breadwinner of the house. Kate might sometimes seem controlling, but she has a softer side and wants to protect her sisters.

✍️ Ashling Lindsay

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

"When I cast my mind back to that summer of 1936, different kinds of memories offer themselves to me..."

In Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel's classic memory play from 1990, the middle-aged Michael Evans recalls being a seven-year-old boy in Donegal.

✍️ by Ashling Lindsay

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

Agnes and Rose make some income for the household through their knitting🧶

Change is coming for them both: the new clothing factory set to open in Donegal town will render their knitting obsolete. What will happen next?

✍️ by Ashling Lindsay inspired by Dancing at Lughnasa

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

"It doesn't matter how old you are or necessarily where you come from, you can relate to the themes he's talking about."

Ellie Pearson, Creative Volunteer at the Friel Summer School, shares how Friel's work is just as important today as it ever was.

#PowerOfFriel #Theatre

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

"Come on and join me! Come on! Come on!"

The unreliable Marconi wireless radio occasionally broadcasts jigs and reels, spurring Michael's mother and her sisters to dance wildly around the kitchen.

✍️ by Ashling Lindsay inspired by Dancing at Lughnasa

What makes you dance?

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

"I think Friel is like a black horse in the theatre industry."

Hermes Wu, Creative Volunteer at the Friel Summer School, shares how Friel's work is just as important today as it ever was.

#brianfriel #frielreimagined #brianfrielplay

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

Meet the soldiers.

Lancey is the cartographer for the Ordnance Survey. He doesn't hesitate in threatening the village when Yolland goes missing.

Yolland grows fond of the place and it soon becomes clear that his love for the place goes beyond the poitin! 🍻

✍️ @dermotflynn

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

Who are we?

We're a unique drama research & engagement project based on the work of playwright Brian Friel.

Led by Dr Paul Murphy, we're working to digitise over 3,000 of Friel's manuscript pages in a new partnership between @qubelfast, @nationallibraryofireland & @JSTOR_org.

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

Oh the drama!

Maire is betrothed to Manus, who falls for Yolland. She is destined for America so is determined to learn English

Yolland is besotted with Maire, despite the locals disapproving. When their dalliance is discovered he goes missing😬*doof doof*

✍️ @dermotflynn

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

@Qub 📸Portrait above of Brian Friel from the Bobbie Hanvey photographic archives, MS.2001.039, John J. Burns Library, Boston College, 2011.

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

Did you know...Brian Friel received several awards?

🏆 Tony Award for Best Play for Dancing at Lughnasa
🏆 Inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame
🏆 Appointed to the Senate of Ireland
🏆@qub opened The Brian Friel Centre for Theatre Research

Pretty impressive! 👏

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

What does Friel and his work mean to you? 🤔

We join creative producer @jordanwfield who shares her thoughts on what Friel brings to the table.

#brianfriel #frielreimagined #brianfrielplay #digitalarchives #irishhistoryandheritage #playwrighting #brianfrieltheatre

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

Any philosophers out there? 🧐

Meet Jimmy Jack Cassie, a Greek and Latin student who philosophises to the point of delusion. He believes that he's marrying Atheni, the daughter of Zeuss. He ads a dose of humour - even if under the influence 🍻

✍️ @demotflynn #frielreimagined

[Friel Reimagined @FrielReimagined]

Another case of unrequited love 💔

Meet Manus and Sarah. Manus patiently and enthusiastically teaches Sarah to say her name in the opening moments of the play.

Although Sarah attempts to communicate her feelings, Manus remains unaware of her affections for him.

✍️@dermotflynn