Liminality in Brian Friel's Wonderful Tennessee

After the worldwide success of the 1990 play Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel (Omagh, 1929), a playwright known for his search for new ways of dealing with his old preoccupations, created what many critics understood as a sequel to that play. Wonderful Tennessee, which premiered in 1993 at the Abbey Theatre, has been frequently considered Lughnasa"s younger and plainer sister. Whereas the seductiveness of the former cannot be denied, I intend to defend in this article the importance in Friel"s oeuvre of Wonderful Tennessee, a play rich in meaning and original in form that presents a complete rite of passage as described in Victor Turner"s anthropological studies. Friel unites elements that form part of ancient, Celtic and Christian rituals to show what has forever been humanity"s aim: the attainment of the absolute. Tras el éxito mundial de la obra de 1990 Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel (Omagh, 1929), un dramaturgo que siempre ha buscado nuevas formas de expresar sus inquietudes, creó una obra que muchos críticos calificaron de secuela de la anterior. Wonderful Tennessee, estrenada en 1993 en el Abbey Theatre, ha sido frecuentemente considerada la hermana fea de Dancing at Lughnasa. A pesar de que el atractivo de esta última es innegable, intentaremos defender aquí la importancia en la carrera de Friel de Wonderful Tennessee, una obra rica en significado y original en la forma utilizada para presentar en escena un rito de paso completo, tal y como los describe Victor Turner en sus estudios antropológicos. Friel une elementos de rituales de la antigüedad clásica, celtas y cristianos para mostrar lo que desde siempre ha sido la meta del ser humano: alcanzar lo absoluto

Brian Friel in Spain: an off-centre love story

Spanish theatres are not prolific in the staging of Irish playwrights. However, the Northern Irish writer Brian Friel (1929-2015) has been a curious exception, his plays having been performed in different cities in Spain since William Layton produced Amantes: vencedores y vencidos (Lovers: Winners and Losers) in 1972. The origin of Friel's popularity in this country may be attributed to what many theatre directors and audiences considered to be a parallel political situation between post-colonial Ireland and the historical peripheral communities with a language other than Spanish: Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia; the fact is that the number of Catalan directors who have staged works by Friel exceeds that of any other territory in Spain. However, despite the political identification that can be behind the success of a play like Translations (1980), the staging of others with a subtler political overtone, such as Lovers (1967), Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), Molly Sweeney (1994), Faith Healer (1979) and Afterplay (2001), should prompt us to find the reason for this imbalance of representation elsewhere. By analysing the production of the plays, both through the study of their programmes and interviews with their protagonists, and by scrutinising their reception, I have attempted to discern some common factors to account for the selection of Friel's dramatic texts. Los teatros españoles no son prolíficos en la representación de dramaturgos irlandeses. Sin embargo, el escritor norirlandés Brian Friel (1929-2015) ha sido una curiosa excepción, ya que sus obras se han representado en diferentes ciudades de España desde que William Layton produjera Amantes: vencedores y vencidos (Lovers: Winners and Losers) en 1972. El origen de la popularidad de Friel en este país puede atribuirse a lo que tanto el público como muchos directores de teatro entendieron como una situación política semejante entre la Irlanda poscolonial y las comunidades históricas periféricas con una lengua distinta del español: Cataluña, País Vasco y Galicia; lo cierto es que el número de directores catalanes que han llevado a escena obras de Friel supera al de cualquier otro territorio de España. Sin embargo, a pesar de la identificación política que puede haber detrás del éxito de una obra como Translations (1980), el montaje de otras con un matiz político más sutil, como Lovers (1967), Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), Molly Sweeney (1994), Faith Healer (1979) y Afterplay (2001), debería llevarnos a buscar la razón de esta diferencia en otras causas. Mediante el análisis de la producción de las obras, tanto a través del estudio de sus programas y entrevistas con sus protagonistas, como del escrutinio de su recepción, he intentado discernir algunos factores comunes que expliquen la selección de los textos dramáticos de Friel

When Heroes become heroines: Brian Friel re-makes history

In Brian Friel's Making History (1988), the author presents the process by which minority discourses are obviated and advocates the need for silenced narratives to be given a voice in retrospect. This play, based on O'Faolain's The Great O'Neill (1942), presents the events which resulted in the infamous Flight of the Earls with a dismantling of O'Neill's myth. Friel brings awareness to the erasure of the role of women in Irish history while enacting its recovery by means of the stage. Consequently, Mabel Bagenal, O'Neill's third wife, moves from a backward position to centre stage, becoming the Earl's main counsellor. Furthermore, this character, together with that of her sister, exhibits a different perspective on the colonisation of Ireland from that of the rest of the characters, due to her Protestant ascendency. History is thus disintegrated in as many histories as characters populate the play. In this manner, the writer also succeeds in mirroring the society of the twentieth century's Troubles. With this essay, I intend to reflect the new light in which Friel pictures the character of Mabel and his scrutiny of the different myths which have nourished the collective memory of the opposing factions in the North. Key terms: Brian Friel, Making History, women's empowerment, demystification, Ulster

The Golden Thread : Irish Women Playwrights, volumes 1 and 2

This is one of those indispensable works that will influence the future of performance studies and feminist criticism. The number and variety of voices on display, the effort in the reconstruction of the canon by adding women playwrights who had been erased in the past, and the declared ambition to draw attention to and create the conditions for revivals and publications of plays created by contemporary women playwrights make this extensive compilation more than recommendable. Although from a very subjective perspective, I also find the use of the footnotes useful because, in my opinion, they help to facilitate the reading flow and allow us to benefit to the maximum from the large amount of data provided in such a diligent manner. All in all, a very enjoyable edition, which makes for a rewarding read and provides essential information

Encounters in the exilie and international intertwinements : the Contributions of Exiled German Speakers in Latin America

El eje del análisis se centrará en la existencia de un hecho traumático fundacional, tanto de la historia contemporánea de Alemania como de Latinoamérica, que en ambos casos no pierde vigencia ni se fosiliza, sino que opera funcionalmente revitalizado, aún para la memoria de generaciones alejadas tres grados del momento evocado en la memoria colectiva. Por otra parte el holocausto y el exilio generan un conflicto de identidad cultural cuando los dos mundos producen exclusión. La necesidad de integración social en el nuevo mundo y el pasado conflictivo que se silencia colisionan con la realidad política de ciertos países americanos.The axis of the analysis will focus on the existence of a foundational traumatic event, both in the contemporary history of Germany and Latin America, which, in both cases, does not lose force or become fossilized, but operates functionally revitalized even for the memory of generations three degrees away from the moment evoked in the collective memory. On the other hand, the holocaust and exile generate a conflict of cultural identity when the two worlds generate exclusion. The need for social integration in the new world and the conflictive past that is silenced, collide with the political reality of certain american countries.Fil: Wamba Gaviña, Graciela. Universidad Nacional de La Plat

The Freedom Of The City, or How Reality Contaminates Art

The Northern Irish playwright Brian Friel (Omagh, 1929) wrote his first play in 1958 and his last play-to-date in 2008 ¿ which makes five decades dedicated to the stage, with no less than thirty plays. UK society and culture have undergone deep changes in these fifty years, even more so in Ireland, and, still more dramatically so in Northern Ireland. The different tendencies in drama, the political and social circumstances in both nations ¿ the Republic and the North ¿ the evolution in the way of understanding family and religion, and the different attitudes towards gender roles have always marked Friel¿s oeuvre, so that he is regarded as a spokesman for a community that was still a British colony at the beginning of the 20th century and found itself negotiating the foundations that would definitely end up with the conflict derived from its de-colonization at the beginning of the 21st century. In Friel¿s career several plays act as landmarks. As we will see, The Freedom of the City (1973), written after Derry¿s `Bloody Sunday¿, in which thirteen marchers were killed by the British army, is Friel¿s first mature attempt to bring together his artistic vein and his commitment to the troubled nation to which he belongs

Berlín-Buenos Aires en la literatura argentina y alemana

La literatura permite al lector ubicarse dentro de una cultura extranjera. El análisis comparativo de Berlín-Buenos Aires en algunas novelas argentinas pone en descubierto uno de los síntomas más problemáticos de la cultura argentina y de los intelectuales: la incapacidad de reconocer su propia identidad nacional con el consecuente rechazo de los elementos en ella que se evalúan como vulgares y retrógados. El 'alemán como el otro', o la cultura alemana como contraste, muestran la capacidad de analizar una realidad extraña que determina al mismo tiempo los límites de la propia cultura.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Berlín-Buenos Aires en la literatura argentina y alemana

La literatura permite al lector ubicarse dentro de una cultura extranjera. El análisis comparativo de Berlín-Buenos Aires en algunas novelas argentinas pone en descubierto uno de los síntomas más problemáticos de la cultura argentina y de los intelectuales: la incapacidad de reconocer su propia identidad nacional con el consecuente rechazo de los elementos en ella que se evalúan como vulgares y retrógados. El 'alemán como el otro', o la cultura alemana como contraste, muestran la capacidad de analizar una realidad extraña que determina al mismo tiempo los límites de la propia cultura.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació