Brian Friel: the master playwright

Brian Friel has long been recognized as Ireland's leading playwright. His work for the theatre spans almost fifty years and his reputation has expanded well beyond Ireland. In January 2009 Friel turned eighty and only a few months before, his adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, opened at the Gate Theatre Dublin on 30th September 2008. This article will first provide a survey of Brian Friel's remarkable career, trying to assess his overall contribution to Irish theatre, before looking at his various adaptations to finally focus on Hedda Gabler, its place and relevance in the author's canon.