Irish Play at Union Station Wows Critics
I thought I’d featured Brian Friel’s classic Irish play Translations earlier.
The Actors Theatre of Kansas City Production of Translations is currently showing at the City Stage at Union Station.
It’s set against the backdrop of the clash of two cultures, as represented by the languages of English and Gaelige (Irish), as Ireland and her towns and features are mapped and named.
I don’t know if there is a better and more accessible way to learn about what makes Ireland Ireland, than through the plays of Irish writers.
Brian Friel’s Translations is usually described as sad, tender and funny, which is longhand for Irish.
Directed by Mark Robbins this Kansas City production it has gone down an absolute treat with Lory Lacy who starts her review with “wow!” and finishes it with:
Maybe I’m supposed to say something negative to balance out this review, but there is hardly a flaw in Translations. This production has been seasoning itself since early July and is closing this weekend. Don’t miss it.
Robert Trussell in the Kansas City Star has written about this production of Translations a couple of times:
The three-act multicharacter drama examines the power of language and the names of places in an early 19th-century story that balances delightful narrative surprises, carefully drawn characters and the inevitable Gaelic sense of doom.
Alan Scherstuhl reviewed the production in the Pitch Weekly saying that much of the cast was on peak form:
Friel’s story is Irish to its core, with hints of the Troubles and the famine to come, but the issues of language and culture resonate deeply in the here and now. Does modern life demand the abandonment of the old words? And does losing the old words mean the loss of the old worlds? We meet Lieutenant Yolland (Nathan Darrow), a moony Brit charged with Anglicizing the names of Irish towns and landmarks. Like us, he finds Ireland romantic, and he comes to despair over “standardizing” a place such as “Bun Na hAbhann” to “Burnfoot.” He exults in the place that his presence is destroying, and attempts, like any good gentrifier, to work his way out of this contradiction.
Translations runs through August 31, 2008 at the H&R Block City Stage at Union Station, 18 West Pershing. Tickets: $15-$30. Phone 816-235-6222
Curtain times are at 7:30pm on Saturday August 30, 2008 and 2pm for the matinee on Sunday, August 31, 2008.
This showings are posted on the Kansas City Irish events calendar.
More from Irish Writers in Kansas City:
• Irish Performance Poet Mac Lochlainn in Kansas City, MO
• Irish Center Adds Dracula to Book Club
• Larry Kirwan Waxes James Joyce
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