About the work
Three-act historical drama by Brian Friel, first performed on 23 September 1980 at the Guildhall in Derry as the opening production of the Field Day Theatre Company, co-founded by Friel and Stephen Rea.
Plot
In the Irish-speaking village of Baile Beag in County Donegal, a British survey unit maps the land in 1833 and renders the Gaelic place names into English. In the local hedge school, the Irish assistant Owen and the English officer Yolland, who falls in love with young Maire, embody clashing attitudes toward language, origin and colonialism. When Yolland disappears without trace, the threat of military reprisals puts the fragile community at risk.
Cultural significance
As the inaugural production of the Field Day Theatre Company, founded to seek cultural understanding across the sectarian divide during the Troubles, "Translations" became one of the most widely performed Irish plays of the twentieth century and remains a key text on language, identity and colonial history.