Brian Friel: Shy Man Showman

Taal: NL
Categorie: documentaire

The playwright Brian Friel stands among the giants of Irish literature. He sits alongside Irish writing greats such as Heaney, Beckett and Yeats. Faith Healer, Philadelphia Here I Come and Translations took Irish theatre in completely new directions, while Dancing at Lughnasa brought it to totally different audiences. Yet an unwillingness to talk to the press and a withdrawal from public life in the mid 1980's mean that many have not understood how influential he was and remains. This film sets out to show how Brian Friel re-defined Irish theatre in the second half of the 20th century. Seven years after his death, a landmark film "Brian Friel: Shyman and Showman" has gained intimate access to his widow, Anne, and their family home, to previously non public family photos, to Brian's writing room, the original notebooks and copies of first drafts of plays, along side stars such as Sinéad Cusack, Stephen Rea, Siobhán McSweeney, Sir Tom Stoppard and Liam Neeson, who readily attest to his genius. Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre, Caitríona McLaughlin, directs a workshop of actors reading extracts from Friel plays, highlighting his exploration of his era's concerns around cultural identity, social change and political turmoil, the importance of language and the significance of history on the island of Ireland. Those ideas still resonate today. In a post-Brexit world Friel's work has never been more relevant. Director: Jane Magowan Producer: Marie-Louise Muir