Philadelphia, Here He Came.: Brian Friel and America

"Philadelphia, Here He Came!: Brian Friel in America" considers the work of Brian Friel through an American lens. By including both a literary and a theatrical analysis, I bridge the gap between these often polarized methods of assessing drama.;After discussing what theatrical knowledge Friel gained in 1963 from his mentorship in Minneapolis under the legendary theatre director Sir Tyrone Guthrie, I analyze thirteen of Friel's plays: Philadelphia, Here I Come!, The Loves of Cass McGuire, Lovers, The Mundy Scheme, The Freedom of the City, Faith Healer, Translations, American Welcome, Aristocrats, Dancing at Lughnasa, Wonderful Tennessee, Molly Sweeney and Give Me Your Answer, Do! My dissertation explores how America has impacted Friel's work, and how Friel's plays have affected New York theatre for over forty years.;I begin by tracing the development of Friel's numerous Irish-American and American characters, and his frequent use of American music and themes in his plays. Next, I discuss how the plays have been received on and Off-Broadway. In the process, I ponder why Friel did not start his New York theatre career on Off-Broadway. As early as Cass McGuire in 1966, Friel was an obvious playwright for the newly emerging Off-Broadway movement, due to his introspective and tragicomic plays. Despite this natural affinity, Friel did not have an Off-Broadway play until Translations in 1981. Instead of finding his niche Off-Broadway, Friel struggled through a number of Broadway disappointments (Cass McGuire, Mundy Scheme, Freedom of the City, Faith Healer, and Wonderful Tennessee), as well as sporadic Broadway successes (Lovers, Lughnasa, the 2006 Faith Healer revival, and the 2007 Translations revival). This dissertation tries to determine where the responsibility of these successes and failures lies: in the plays themselves, their leading actors and actresses, the fickle New York reviewers, or their Broadway location?;I conclude by comparing Friel's New York career with the work of his Irish dramatic predecessors, including Lady Gregory, Yeats, Synge, O'Casey, Beckett and Behan, and his contemporaries, such as Leonard, Keane, McGuinness, McPherson and McDonagh. Finally, I reflect upon why Friel is the most insightful contemporary Irish playwright on the New York stage.