Translations at the Biltmore

Manhattan Theatre Club presents Translations, by Brian Friel, opening at the Biltmore Theatre on 25 Jan 2007, following previews from 4 Jan.

MTC has prosponed its planned production of Clifford Odets� The Country Girl which it hops to present to next season.

Translations: Set in Donegal in 1833, the play tells the story of a small community on the brink of irrevocable change. Most of the action takes place in the home of learned but doddery Hedge School master Hugh O�Donnell, where, in accordance with British law, Catholic pupils are taught classics and mathematics.

In 1981, MTC produced the American premiere of Brian Friel's Translations. Twenty-five years later, the themes of this play are as timely as ever. Clashing cultures and tragedies of miscommunication unfold in Friel's invented Irish county of Ballybeg, a place he has explored in his plays 'Dancing at Lughnasa', 'Aristocrats' and 'Molly Sweeney'. The play depicts the power of language to unite and divide people in a time of cultural imperialism.

Translations will be directed by Garry Hynes, and have set and costume designs by Francis O�Connor, lighting by Davy Cunningham and sound by John Leonard.