It’s 1833 and the people of Ireland’s County Donegal face rising challenges to their bucolic life. The British army has arrived to remap the area, complete with anglicized place names. And there’s a new state-run English-only school opening that will mean the end of the line for the lone Irish schoolmaster who instructs a motley assortment of locals in Latin, maths, geography and Ancient Greek.
Brian Friel’s masterful 1980 play Translations, now onstage at Writers Theatre, quickly peels back the surface layers of the situation and shows how the soldiers, who speak no Irish, and the Irish, who speak no English, are nonetheless able to intuit the ill intentions they have toward each other. The Irish just wish to be left alone, but if the soldiers persist in these acts of cultural destruction and assimilation, they’ll fight back. And the English, like many an occupying force in a land where they don’t speak the language, see threats everywhere and view the natives with condescension and derision.
In delivering the play’s lines, everyone speaks English, so attention must be paid to keep straight who is supposed to be speaking Irish, and which characters speak both languages. After a few minutes, you get into the rhythm of it as the dramatic stakes ratchet up.
The three characters who speak both English and Irish are the schoolmaster Hugh (Kevin Gudhal), his son Manus (Andrew Mueller) who is following in his footsteps, and his other son Owen (Casey Hoekstra), who has returned after a long time away, and now acts as interpreter for the British army contingent. Owen, a happy-go-lucky sort with an eye for mischief, is good friends with the English cartographer (Erik Hellman), decidedly not a man of war, who is captivated by Ireland and falls for Maire (Tyler Meredith), the lass who also happens to be the love interest of Manus.
When the cartographer disappears after an evening walk with Maire, suspicion falls on Manus and the reprisals begin.
The beautifully written play, coupled with this fine cast and the assured direction of Braden Abraham, delivers a masterclass in rising tension and suspense even as it paints an engaging portrait of a way of life long since lost in a faraway land.
Hoekstra, back in Chicago after seven years acting at American Players Theatre in Wisconsin, plays first the comedy and then the tragedy of the situation brilliantly. This wonderful performance is matched by Gudhal as the delusional, perpetually drunk schoolmaster; Hellman, quite convincing as the hopelessly romantic maker of maps; and Meredith as Maire, who wants to learn English to go to America, but only masters a few words as she and the cartographer work out rudimentary channels of communication to further their star-crossed relationship.
To translate all of that: This is a thrilling night of theater in which an incredibly talented cast takes on some of life’s biggest issues in lyrical fashion. It’s both good craic and achingly sad as it tells a universal story that transcends language and hits us straight in the heart.
Translations runs through May 4 at Writers Theatre.
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Michael Brosilow
