Translations By Brian Friel

During the hot summer of 1833, at a hedge-school in the town of Baile Beag in County Donegal, an Irish-speaking community adjust to the arrival of a detachment of the Royal Engineers. The first Ordnance Survey is being carried out in Ireland; the task is at first glance merely administrative yet it holds a greater significance when, for the purposes of cartography, the local Gaelic place names require “standardising” into English. Universal and individual, haunting and lyrical, Translations debates through tragic miscommunications the devastating impact of the actions of the few upon the many.

In a post-Referendum United Kingdom, we find ourselves self-conscious of what it is to be 'British' – making this play particularly poignant in Wales. In our new and ambitious production we examine how a national language can impose upon a nation’s identity and ask if our collective history really does bind us and influence our actions.

Brian Friel is recognized as one of the greatest contemporary dramatists writing in the English language and Translations is acknowledged to be one of his finest plays. The play’s touching insights into the lives of a small group reflect the weight of history, the inevitability of change and the endurance of language.

Directed by Lizzie Fitzpatrick.