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Philadelphia, Here I Come!

WRITTEN BY BRIAN FRIEL

Philadelphia, Here I Come! | Corn Mill Theatre Group

02

February

About

Fed up with the dreary round of life in Ballybeg, with his uncommunicative father and his humiliating job at his father's grocery shop, with his frustrated love for Kathy Doogan who married a richer, more successful young man and with the total absence of prospect and opportunity in his life at home, Gareth O'Donnell has accepted his aunt's invitation to come to Philadelphia. On the eve of his departure, despite the fantasies Gar entertains of life in America, all it take to stop him leaving would be one word of affection from his father or Kathy, or a word of genuine understanding from his friends.

Setting

Set in Ballybeg. Time, the present (1964).

Running Time

2 hours with 20 a minute interval

Author

Brian Friel was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, and in 1939 moved with his family to Derry. He published two collections of short stories, 'A Saucer of Larks' and 'The Gold in the Sea.' In 1980, Brian Friel co-founded the Field Day Theatre Company in Derry. His numerous awards include the London Evening Standard Award for 'Aristocrats' (1988) and again for 'The Home Place' (2005), a Tony Award (1992) and Laurence Olivier Award (1991) for the massively successful 'Dancing at Lughnasa' and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish Times (1999). Brian Friel served in the Senate from 1987 to 1989. He received honorary doctorates from NUI, TCD, DCU, Magee University and Queen's University and was an Honorary Fellow of UCD, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was a member of Aosdána, where held the position of Saoi, and a patron of Irish Theatre Institute.