Brian Friel: Last News

Robert Swan, an actor familiar from sometimes brief but noticeable roles in Hoosiers, Rudy, The Untouchables and The Babe, died of cancer today at his home in Rolling Prairie, Indiana. He was 78.

David Benedict There is an opera of “The Crucible.” Written by Robert Ward, it won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize. But this is not the opera… or is it? Lyndsey Turner’s grandiloquent National Theatre production of Arthur Miller’s imperishable 1953 classic is so overloaded with singing from the opening period-style choral folk song to a final major-key angelic chorus — not to mention a permanently portentous soundscape — that you could be forgiven for mistaking it for the opera. While some 69-year-old plays need dramaturgical assistance to be successfully revived, this is not one of them. Turner’s decision to “assist” the play is also there in her equally operatic visual response. In 2016, she and designer Es Devlin transformed the naturalism of Brian Friel’s masterpiece “Faith Healer” at the 250-seat Donmar Warehouse by encasing the three-sided stage with a curtain of pouring rain lit so that the water gleamed like a cage of hard, white light. It was a fitting metaphor for Friel’s fictional village. Now reused for “The Crucible” in the 1,029-seat Olivier amphitheater, opening and closing the play and punctuating the scene changes, it seems less metaphorical, more an over-displayed effect.

Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s artistic director has been hailed for her talents by receiving a prestigious accolade.Elizabeth Newman clinched the award for best director in the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) awards on Thursday, November 12.She was recognised for her outstanding direction of Brian Friel’s ‘Faith Healer’, the 2019 autumn production at the Theatre in the Hills, and an acclaimed tour across the Highlands and Islands in partnership with Eden Court theatre, Inverness.Elizabeth’s win was one of five Pitlochry nominations this year, including three more for Faith Healer.Busy flyover across the A90 finally reopens over a year after collisionIt was on the shortlist for best production, best female performance for

Michael Sheen will star in a production of Brian Friel’s play Faith Healer livestreamed from the empty Old Vic theatre in London.

When it comes to sounding Irish, most Hollywood stars are full of blarney.