Nationwide TV Programme to show Brian Friel Weekend Special on Wednesday 19th Nov at 7pm RTE 1.

Not to be missed! The Nationwide Team followed the events of The Brian Friel Centre Weekend (3 & 4 October) through thick, thin, Storm Amy and power outages. This special programme will be a showcasing of the events and more. This is your chance to see the events from the comfort of your living room, with electricity, light and heat.

The weekend began on Friday evening at 6pm with Anne Friel cutting the ribbon to mark the beginning of our celebratory weekend and this important milestone in the development of The Brian Friel Centre, with remarks from Seamus Neely, Chair of The Brian Friel Trust and Virginia Teehan, CEO, The Heritage Council.

This was followed at 8pm by, ‘Celebrating Brian Friel -An Evening of Readings’ in The Highlands Hotel, Glenties, Co. Donegal. Directed by Conall Morrison, this stellar line up included readings from Brian Friel’s work by Ingrid Craigie, Sinéad Cusack, Sorcha Cusack, Denis Conway, Adrian Dunbar, Ciarán Hinds, Ciarán O’Reilly, and Stephen Rea. Accompanied by cello music by Neil Martin.

An amazing evening included readings from the plays, stories, articles and interviews, all reflecting the range of Brian Friel’s work from the early 1960s onwards. We first enjoyed the readings by candle and torch light. Then, as if by magic, the electricity returned for a few hours and the Ballroom lit up! There were extracts from Philadelphia, Here I Come!, The Loves of Cass McGuire, Lovers (Winners), The Mundy Scheme, Crystal & Fox, The Freedom of the City, Aristocrats, Faith Healer, Translations, Wonderful Tennessee, Molly Sweeney, Give Me Your Answer, Do! and The Home Place. The company of actors also read from the short story collection, The Saucer of Larks, and from Brian Friel’s working diaries and occasional interviews.

On Saturday 4th October, we took cover in the Market Hall Glenties for an intimate and low tech series of readings from the actors. This time, with the electricity off again, our group propped up by the windows ledges and using the autumnal sunlight from the upstairs windows, read a selection of readings from A Man’s World, The Enemy Within, Making History, Translations, Three Sisters, Afterplay, Molly Sweeney and The Diviner. Featuring Sinéad Cusack, Sorcha Cusack, Denis Conway, Adrian Dunbar, Ciarán Hinds and Ciarán O’Reilly. It was a most mesmorising morning.

Later on in the afternoon, The Laurels Garden became the site to be seen. Finally, the weather abated and a group of guests enjoyed a walk around. The Brian Friel Trust has commissioned renowned Irish garden designer Diarmuid Gavin to transform the exterior of the Laurels Cottage. Beautiful and creative pathways mixed with a huge open air arena and newly planted shrubs.

Then at 7.30pm on Saturday, Blood in the Alley Productions presented a stunning performance of FAITH HEALER, directed by Geoff Gould and starring Seamus O’Rourke (Frank), Orla Fitzgerald (Grace) and Michael Patric (Teddy). The banner was up: ‘The Fantastic Francis Hardy, Faith Healer, One Night Only.’ Regarded by many as Friel’s masterpiece, the play follows itinerant faith healer, Frank Hardy, his wife, and their cockney manager as they travel through the remote villages of Wales and Scotland where Frank plies his mysterious trade in kirks, meeting houses and school halls before a homecoming and a reckoning in Donegal. As they each give us their version of events, Friel creates a mesmerising psychic landscape that both compels and enthrals. Faith Healer is theatrical storytelling at its very best.

So relive the whole weekend on TV, at 7pm on Wednesday 19th November on RTE 1.

We hope you enjoy the show!