Brian Friel Translations 1980 Brian Friel 1929 2015

Brian Friel Translations 1980

Brian Friel (1929– 2015)

Map of Ireland

Map of Northern Ireland

Background and Literary Career Born in Killyclogher, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, a recently (1921) partitioned country that was further divided along sectarian lines. Born into a Catholic family living in a predominantly Protestant constituency. Parents wanted to avoid difficulty with the authorities of registering a Gaelic name (Brian), so an Anglicised version (Bernard) was adopted. • the ritual of naming – key to individual and national identity • the problem of communication between cultures – major issue addressed in Translations

Bellybeg / Baile Beag The majority of Friel’s plays are set in Donegal in a mythical place called Bellybeg, which is a generic name given to small Irish towns. Friel's Ballybeg has often been compared to the village of Glenties, close to where the playwright lives. The name comes from the Gaelic words Baile Beag which literally means ‘small town’. The term is originated in France (bailie being the Old French term for a bailiff, see Bailiwick).

Bellybeg / Baile Beag Baile also means ‘home’; so Baile Beag indicates some sort of a cohesive community. But the name can be interpreted in the pejorative sense of a rigid and conservative mindset.

Translations General Summary Translations is a three-act play by Brian Friel written in 1980. It is set in Baile Beag (Ballybeg), a small village at the heart of 19 th century agricultural Ireland. Friel has said that Translations is "a play about language and only about language", but it deals with a wide range of issues, stretching from language and communication to Irish history and cultural imperialism. Despite the 1833 setting, there are obvious parallels between Baile Beag and today's world.

Translations The plot is set in 1833 in a hedge-school in Baile Beag, an Irish-speaking community in Donegal The British Army are making the first Ordnance Survey map of Ireland, Anglicising all the Irish names, and the National School are being established to impose English as the national language

Translations Theme • The play is about language – the death of Irish language and the implicit loss of cultural and national identity. • The historical moment brings irreversible change for Baile Beag and the whole of Ireland. It explores notions of naming and translation. • The theme is personalised through the experience of the people in Baile Beag and in particular the O’Donnel family: - Hugh, father and schoolmaster - Manus, eldest son and scholar - Owen, the ‘exiled’ younger son, who returns as a translator for the British Army

Set of Characters Sarrah mute girl Hugh’s pupil Hugh schoolmaster / Manus Owen (= Roland) Hugh’ son Hugh’s son in love with Maire — Jimmy Jack local, fluently reads Greek Hugh’s Pupil Doalty and Bridget messengers / Maire in love with Manus then with Yolland — Captain Lancey British cartographer Owen’s friend pragmatic Lieutenant Yolland British ortographer Owen’s friend idealistic in live with Maire

Plot The play is set in the small community of Baile Beag (later anglicized to Ballybeg), in County Donegal, Ireland. The scene is set in a hedge school. A hedge school (Irish names include scoil chois claí, scoil ghairid and scoil scairte) is the name given to an educational practice in 19 th century Ireland, so called due to its rural nature. Classes always took place out-doors. It came about as local educated men began an oral tradition of teaching the community. Hedge schools declined from the foundation of the National School system by government in the 1830 s.

Plot cont. Hugh, the alcoholic master at the school is hoping to get an appointment at the new national school (but eventually does not get it). He is away to baptize a newborn babe. In his absence, his son, Manus substitutes him. He manages to teach Sarah, a mute girl to pronounce her name.

Plot cont. The action begins with Owen, younger son of the schoolmaster Hugh and brother to Manus returning home after six years away in Dublin. He accompanies Captain Lancey, a middle-aged, pragmatic cartographer, and Lieutenant Yolland, a young, romantic orthographer. Owen acts as a translator for the British and Irish. However, his translation is always selective, deliberately mistranslates the speech of Captain ancey so that locals might not know exactly what was going on.

Translations, Act One Farcical situation (comic situation) OWEN: And I'll translate as you go along. LANCEY: I see. Yes. Very well. Perhaps you're right. Well. What we are doing is this. (He looks at OWEN nods reassuringly. ) His Majesty's government has ordered the first ever comprehensive survey of this entire country – a general triangulation which will embrace detailed hydrographic and topographic information and which will be executed to a scale of six inches to the English mile. HUGH: (Pouring a drink) Excellent-excellent. (LANCEY looks at OWEN. ) OWEN: A new map is being made of the whole country. (LANCEY looks to OWEN: Is that all? OWEN smiles reassuringly and indicates to proceed. )

Translations Act One, cont. LANCEY: This enormous task has been embarked on so that the military authorities will be equipped with up-todate and accurate information on every corner of this part of the Empire. OWEN: The job is being done by soldiers because they are skilled in this work. LANCEY: And also so that the entire basis of land valuation can be reassessed for purposes of more equitable taxation. OWEN: This new map will take the place of the estate agent's map so that from now on you will know exactly what is yours in law.

Translations Act One, cont. LANCEY: In conclusion I wish to quote two brief extracts from the white paper which is our governing charter: (Reads) 'All former surveys of Ireland originated in forfeiture and violent transfer of property; the present survey has for its object the relief which can be afforded to the proprietors and occupiers of land from unequal taxation. OWEN: The captain hopes that the public will cooperate with the sappers and that the new map will mean that taxes are reduced. HUGH: A worthy enterprise – opus honestum! And Extract B? LANCEY: 'Ireland is privileged. No such survey is being undertaken in England. So this survey cannot but be received as proof of the disposition of this government to advance the interests of lreland. ' My sentiments, too.

Translations Act One, cont. OWEN: This survey demonstrates the government's interest in Ireland the captain thanks you for listening so attentively to him. HUGH: Our pleasure, Captain. LANCEY : Lieutenant Yolland? YOLLAND: I – I've nothing to say – really – OWEN: The captain is the man who actually makes the new map. George's task is to see that the placenames on this map are. . . correct. (To Y 0 LLAND. ) Just a few words-they'd like to hear you. (To class. ) Don't you want to hear George, too? MAIRE: Has he anything to say?

Translations Act One, cont. YOLLAND: (To MAIRE) Sorry – sorry? OWEN: She says she's dying to hear you. YOLLAND: (To MAIRE) Very kind of you – thank you. . . (To class) I can only say that I feel – I feel very foolish to – to be working here and not to speak your language. But I intend to rectify that – with Roland's help – indeed I do. OWEN: He wants me to teach him Irish! HUGH: You are doubly welcome, sir. YOLLAND: I think your countryside is –is– is very beautiful. I've fallen in love with it already. I hope we're not too – too crude an intrusion on your lives. And I know that I'm going to be happy, very happy, here.

Translations Act One, cont. OWEN: He is already a committed Hibernophile – JIMMY: He loves – OWEN: All right, Jimmy – we know – he loves Baile Beag; and he loves you all. HUGH: Please. . . May I. . . ? (HUGH is now drunk. He holds on to the edge of the table. ) OWEN: Go ahead, Father. (Hands up for quiet. ) Please – please. HUGH: And we, gentlemen, we in turn are happy to offer you our friendship, our hospitality, and every assistance that you may require. Gentlemen – welcome!

Translations Act One, cont. (A few desultory claps. The formalities are over. General conversation. The soldiers meet the locals. MANUS and OWEN meet down stage. ) OWEN: Lancey's a bloody ramrod but George's all right. How are you anyway? MANUS: What sort of a translation was that, Owen? OWEN: Did I make a mess of it? MANUS: You weren't saying what Lancey was saying! OWEN: 'Uncertainty in meaning is incipient poetry' – who said that? MANUS: There was nothing uncertain about what Lancey said: it's a bloody military operation, Owen! And what's Yolland's function? What's 'incorrect' about the placenames we have here?

Translations Act One, cont. OWEN: Nothing at all. They're just going to be standardized. MANUS: You mean changed into English?

Plot cont. Yolland Owen work to translate local placenames into English for purposes of the first ordnance survey map of Ireland. Owen has no reservations about anglicizing the names of places that form part of his heritage, yet Yolland, fallen in love with Ireland, is uneasy about it.

Plot cont. There develops a love triangle between Yolland, Manus, and a local girl, Maire insists on the necessity of learning English as a way of escape (she wishes to emigrate to America). Yolland, speaking only English, and Maire, speaking only Irish, transgress linguistic obstacles and express their feelings for each other. They ‘leap across the ditch’, i. e. they leap across the tribal and class boundaries, communicating their love through place names. The local Irish girl in the arms of a British soldier is a romantic but also shocking image suggesting conquest, collaboration, colonisation.

Plot cont. Manus who was hoping to marry Maire, gets jealous and plans to attack Yolland. But in the end he is unable to set up his mind to perpetrate it. Unfortunately, Yolland goes missing. He has been attacked by rebellious locals, so Manus has to escape. The British soldiers rampage across Baile Beag, and Captain Lancey threatens first shooting all livestock and then evicting and destroying houses if Yolland is not found.

Plot cont. Hugh does not get the appointment Nellie Ruadh’s baby, baptised at the beginning of the play, dies. The play ends ambiguously yet forebodingly.

Language For the British – power For the Irish – a form of romantic evasion (into mythologies of fantasy, hope and self-deception) The audience is reminded many times that the Irish characters are speaking Gaelic. E. g. - Lancey asks Owen if the hedge-school pupils speak any English - Maire and Yolland have great difficulty in communicating with each other - Owen translates between Lancey and the community

Language cont. • Hugh, Manus, Owen, Jimmy are fluent in Greek and Latin • Through these languages they keep in touch with ancient civilizations • For Hugh, Manus, and Jimmy these languages are not dead, they are part of their daily lives, but their knowledge will not equip these scholars to deal with the changing reality of the world

Language cont. • For them Irish is also a living thing, but for the outside world it is effectively dead or dying • Yet the establishment of English as the first language in Ireland is seen as inevitable and by many as a good thing • Language is the means by which the British Army rapes the land, one culture penetrates the other

Naming • Name and identity are synonymous throughout the play • Sarah, the mute girl is carefully taught by Manus her own name, thus being able to articulate herself, thus being given an identity; her first words are those of personal identification, but eventually she retreats back into silence, into the loss of identity, which is precisely what happens to Ireland • Owen, when returns home, is called Roland by the British soldiers, but eventually insists that his name is Owen and not Roland

Naming cont. • The play starts with a christening which Hugh calls the ritual of naming • All the Irish characters are referred to by their Christian names, suggesting a degree of familiarity • English are referred to by their surnames, distancing them from the audience

Translation • There are different forms of translation in the play • From one language to another: from Irish into English and English into Irish, from Greek and Latin into Irish and English • Between two worlds, two cultures, two privacies • Other forms of translation relate to the interpretation of facts, historical or individual • Hugh: ‘We must learn those new names … we must learn where we live. We must learn to make them our own. We must make them our new home. ”

Dramatic Structure • Three-act structure • Act one introduces characters and sets up the situation • Act two, scene one explores and develops the argument of the play • Act two, scene two depicts an act of transgression • (Yolland, Maire) • Act three shows the effect of this action • There is no resolution, the ending is open and ambiguous

Irony • Irony is the chief dramatic method which runs throughout the play. • The greatest irony of all is that all the Irish characters are obliged to speak in English to be understood by an audience, including an Irish one.

Historical references 1. Colonialization The Englishmen in the play are a detachment of the Royal Engineers and function as part of the Ordnance Survey creating six-inch to the mile maps of all of Ireland. The characters of Lancey and Yolland are fictionalized representations of two real soldiers who took part in the survey.

Historical references cont. 2. Emigration The character Maire contemplates emigration to America, reflecting the mass emigration of Irish people to America in the 19 th century. The theme of emigration is key throughout the whole play, as Manus eventually leaves after being offered a job in another hedge school.

Historical references cont. 3. Famine There are fearful references to potato blight, reminding the reader of the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840 s, even though the play is set in 1833.

Historical references cont. 4. Daniel O’Connell Irish politician and hero Daniel O'Connell is mentioned and quoted as saying that Irish people should learn English and that the Irish language was a barrier to modern progress.

Daniel O'Connell (1775 - 1847) portrait by Bernard Mulrenin, 1836 Daniel O'Connell , often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the First half of the 19 th century. He campaigned for Catholic Emancipation.

Historical references cont. 5. Introduction of the English school system A national school is to open in the town, replacing the existing hedge school.

Historical references cont. 6. 1798 Wolfe Tone Rising Characters Hugh and Jimmy remember how they marched to battle. during the 1798 rebellion against the British influence in Ireland, only to march back home upon feeling homesick. Edward Delaney’s statue of Wolfe Tone St Stephen’s Green in Dublin

Historical perspectives Contemporary audience was indirectly reminded of then current political issues. In the decade that preceded the première of the play, internment without trial was introduced. The event known as Bloody Sunday occurred in Derry. Secterian killings, Protestant strikes, UDA atrocities, IRA bombing, the Prevention Terrorism Act, hunger strikes in Belfast in protest against inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners were part of the turbulent period which is called ‘troubles’.

Bloody Sunday Sometimes called the Bogside Massacre, was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which twenty-six unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot by oldiers of the British Army. Thirteen males, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately or soon after, while the death of another man four and a half months later has been attributed to the injuries he received on that day. The incident occurred during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march; the soldiers involved were the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment.

Bloody Sunday, 1972 Mural in Berry by Bogside Artists depicting all who Were killed by the British Army on the day.

Father Edward Daly waving a blood-stained white handkerchief while trying to escort the mortally wounded Jackie Duddy to safety.

Conclusion Translations raises a lot more questions than it answers. But the audience knows with the wisdom of hindsight that the trouble caused by the British presence will intensify and the legacy of the relationship between Britain and Ireland remains unresolved. Friel, however, shows that there are no villains and heroes, the case is more complicated than that. The play provides the audience with the critical perspective to see how the historical process is working and what questions to ask of it.

Conclusion cont. The play is about the death of a language which still remains vibrant and alive. It also problematizes the connection between language and national identity. Friel thus makes an important a valuable contribution to the debate by transcending national boundaries.

Sources Friel, Brian: ”Translations. ” In: Brian Friel: Plays 1. London: Faber and Faber, 1996, 377 -451 Jones, Nesta: ”Translations. ” In: Jones, Nesta: A Faber Critical Guide: Brian Friel. London: Faber and Faber, 2000, 57 -116 Pelletier, Martine: “Translations, the Field Day debate and the re-imagining of Irish identity. ” In: Roche, Anthony, ed. : The Cambridge Companion to Brian Friel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 66 -77