Emigration has had a profound effect upon Irish society and Brian Friel has often written about it. His play, premiered in 1964, and not seen in London since 1992, is one of his best, a modern Irish classic, beautifully written and offering a lyrical and moving mixture of present reality, past memories and false memories.
25-¬year-old Gareth O’Donnell works in his father’s general store in a small, cheerless and impoverished village in County Donegal. The play covers his last night before he immigrates to America to stay with an aunt and work in a hotel. Gareth is uncertain whether to go or not. One side of him can’t wait to get out of the quagmire and the dead end, he has been in all his life. The other side of him is frightened to take the leap into the unknown. He has fantasised about America for so long, but will his life be any better there? Friel has said that the play is as much about a son and his birthplace as it is about emigration.
There is nothing and certainly nobody to keep him in Ireland. His mother died when he was a little boy. The girl he loves has married somebody else. His mates are brainless yobs. He and his silent father have nothing in common. It is obvious he should go; and yet the outcome is always in doubt. He could so very easily change his mind at the very last minute and stay. The ending should remain inconclusive. Friel leaves it open. Why does Lindsey Turner not do the same in her otherwise engaging production?
What makes the play special is that Gareth is played by two actors. Paul Reid plays his sensitive public self. Rory Keenan plays his brash private self, who articulates the things he would never dare say out loud. There are also fine performances by James Hayes as the father and Valerie Lilley as the housekeeper.