Battles on Language: A Review of “Translations” at Writers Theatre

From NewCity Stage

Like the Irish characters and culture in the play, the space is proud, poor and threatened—subordinated by English force, English language and English cultural domination. Though most of the characters are depicted as speaking Irish nearly all the time, Friel’s drama has them conversing in English as though they were dubbed. The English characters speak English to both each other and the Irish, and three of the seven Irish characters are fluent enough in English to answer in kind. The others cannot. The playwright is clever enough that it is nearly always clear in the world of the play when the 1833 characters would be speaking Irish, if audiences in our time didn’t need the convenience of English.

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