Published in the Sunday Tribune, August 10, 2008

It’s not difficult to imagine Brian Friel and his Field Day buddies sketching out the framework for ‘Translations’, in Derry in 1980. They start with the premise of setting it during the 1830s Ordnance Survey, an exercise that involved “standardising” Irish place names in brutish English: a scenario that provides for an encounter between coloniser and colonised but that doesn’t carry the baggage of nationalist mythologising. Brilliant.
Then they decide to set it in a local hedge school. There’ll be a drunk Master, who trades Latin and Greek references with the village tramp. And a group of lively young things for students, prone to panic about false rumours of potato blight. The lame son of the Master has to be in love with one of the girls, but have no prospects. One of the girls will be dumb, but learning to speak.

And what about the Brits? There’ll have to be a comic-book officer type, who barks at the locals. He could shout at the dumb girl, and scare her back into silence. And he’ll need a sidekick – a good cop to his bad cop. A young romantic colonial, the type who wishes to go native, and makes comical attempts to learn the local language. And he’ll fall in love with…

Did nobody shout stop? And yet, perhaps it was the peculiar brilliance of Friel, and Field Day, that they didn’t. That they let their playwright take a mallet to Irish history, and batter it into a play to speak to a 1980s audience about politics and language and empire and tribe. That they weren’t afraid of being obvious, because their passions were so strong, and the demands of the time so urgent, that obviousness was needed.

The company Ouroboros has chosen ‘Translations’ in a bid to replicate the success of their tour, last year, of Friel’s ‘Making History’ to sites associated with its subject matter, the Flight of the Earls. Thus ‘Translations’ is on tour to historic venues, run by the OPW, across the country.

In Dublin, it played at Kilmainham Gaol. An unsubtle play staged in an unsubtle venue. Director Andrew Flynn opted for an unsubtle performance. The acting is big and brash, as if fighting the heavy echoes of the venue.

Flynn recognises that this is at heart a folk play; his players need to be able to roll up into any village and entertain the crowd. The honesty and simplicity of the performances is beguiling. The passion is contagious.

And when, for a short, middle scene between the young officer and local girl, we are taken outside into the courtyard, it is suddenly arresting. Free of the wrought-iron weight of the Gaol’s interior, the performances – of Chris Moran and Janet Moran – soar.

Back inside, the hand of history lies heavy on the play – and yet Friel writes his dialogue with a light touch, and there is much beauty in it, as well as comedy.

If what was once audacious now seems obvious, what is left is a play that tells a story of the time when it was written as well as of the time it depicts. A brave time, and a brave play. And a faithful production.

‘Translations’ is on tour to 31st August. See www.ouroboros.ie for details.