TRANSLATIONS AND THE FIELD DAY THEATRE COMPANY

Translations itself is not just a literary masterpiece: it was also the first production from the Derry-based Field Day Theatre Company. Established by Friel and the actor Stephen Rea, who played Owen in the original production, Field Day aimed to produce art that responded to the ongoing conflict in the North. They sought to do this by creating an artistic and imaginative ‘fifth province’ that could transcend the divisions in Irish politics and society.  

This first production of Translations toured across Ireland on both sides of the border. Other academics and writers would later join Field Day, including Seamus Heaney and Seamus Deane, and Field Day published a variety of pamphlets and anthologies. Their work was not always uncontroversial; they were criticised by some for their political stance and side-lining women in their early anthologies.   

Returning to Friel’s archive gives us a fascinating insight into how Friel made use of Irish history in the writing of Translations in 1978 and 1979. An intriguing note left in Friel’s papers held at the National Library of Ireland (NLI) reveal that he felt there needed ‘to be a calculated misrepresentation of history’ if the play was going to achieve his intended impact (BFDA MS 37,085.1.6.006 19790531). In his diary entry for 22 May 1979, Friel recognises that his play is an ‘inaccurate history’ but the wealth of detail left to us in his NLI papers make it obvious that Friel researched Translations meticulously.  

There are numerous passing references to celebrated men from Irish history such as Daniel O'Connell, ‘The Liberator’—who played a key role in Catholic Emancipation in the early nineteenth century (BFDA MS 37,085.1.2.13)—and the Irish republican Robert Emmett who was killed in 1803 (BFDA MS 37,085.1.2.010).

There are some especially intriguing references to historical figures associated with the Ordnance Survey: including Colonel Colby, who wrote Memoir of the City and North Western Liberties of Londonderry and John O’Donovan, an Irish language scholar who worked on the Survey and would later become a Professor at Queen's University Belfast. References to these men and their work are dotted throughout the manuscripts found in various folders in the collections BFDA MS 37,085.1 through to MS 37,085.12. These figures lend their names to early versions of some of Translations’s characters as Friel crafted his play.  

The 'BOY-GIRL SCHOOL ROMANCE'

One of the most affecting and powerful episodes in Translations is the love scene between Maire and George Yolland that takes place in Act 2, Scene 2. The attraction between the two is illicit for two reasons: George is one of the English soldiers and Maire has previously been involved with Manus. It is important to remember that, for audiences watching this in Ireland in the 1980s, such romances would still have been highly dangerous and transgressive.  

Regularly described as one of the best love scenes in modern theatre, this scene is the only one in the whole play that isn’t set in the schoolroom. This tells viewers how central it is to the drama. In fact, this romance, and this scene especially, were some of the very first images that came to Friel as he wrote Translations.  

Part of the scene’s effectiveness comes from the lovers’ attempts to communicate despite speaking different languages: Maire speaks Irish and George, English. The scene famously culminates in an exchange of place-names but Friel’s papers reveal he danced around several ways of staging the couple’s growing feelings for one another. An early thought included, ‘a MIME because of language difficult’ (BFDA MS 37,085.1.2.7).  

A later idea for the ‘love-scene’ was to stage their deepening love ‘either by music or by language, both speaking English but not understanding one-another. And consequently bolder in language than they might be’ (BFDA MS 37,085.1.3.4). Friel went with this second idea including the notion that they might be ‘bolder’ because they couldn’t speak the same language. Both Maire and George are more confident with their feelings in this scene than anywhere else in the play. They both say to the other ‘Say anything at all. I love the sound of your speech’. Maire is the most assertive, though, with her articulation of a very taboo desire: ‘I want you too, soldier’.  

Despite the romantic optimism of this scene, things do not end well for these young lovers. In practical terms, Friel uses their plotline as a catalyst for what will follow in the rest of the play. In emotional terms, their burgeoning love acts as a vital thread in the affective tapestry of Translations. Friel’s papers tell us how important this scene was to his early envisioning of the play and how vital it was to him that the intensity of human life could be felt amongst his driving preoccupations of history and language. More than simply a ‘calculated misrepresentation of history’, Translations is a masterful exploration of what it means for people and cultures to speak to, and (mis)understand, one another.