Cast: Ingrid Craigie, Kim Durham & Owen Roe

Arguably Brian Friel’s greatest play, Faith Healer influenced a generation of Irish writing for the theatre. Frank Hardy, faith healer, has spent a life-time touring the decayed villages of Scotland and Wales with his manager, Teddy, and his wife/mistress, Grace. Now he accepts that he must return home to Ireland, a destiny he can no longer postpone.

The story of their touring and of their fateful return is told in separate, often contradictory, stories by Grace and Teddy and Frank himself. These narratives taken together make up a mosaic that is both seductive and terrifying.

Presented in association with Parade Theatres

ON THE GATE | FRIEL SEASON

On 9 January 2009, Brian Friel, Ireland’s greatest living playwright, will celebrate his 80th birthday. In recognition of this, the Gate Theatre Dublin will produce a very special season of works by Friel to celebrate this significant anniversary. Sydney Festival is delighted to welcome back the Gate, who last visited in 2007 with the acclaimed Beckett Festival.

Credited with changing the face of modern Irish theatre, Brian Friel is a tragi-comedian who, over the course of a long and prestigious career, has explored the Irish psyche with unmatched insight and razor sharp wit. Recurrent in Friel’s work is his evocation on the spirit of place and the ever shifting shadows of language and meaning.

Friel’s career as a writer spans nearly 50 years and encompasses many genres including short stories, original stage plays and adaptations. Before turning to playwriting, Friel attended a Catholic seminary, worked as a schoolteacher for ten years, and published several short stories in The New Yorker.

The Gate has a long and rich association with Brian Friel, premiering many of his plays over the past 45 years.

The Gate Friel season is presented in association with Culture Ireland.

Also playing as part of the Gate | Friel Season are Afterplay and The Yalta Game.

The film adaptation of Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa is screened as part of Festival Flicks.

RUNNING ORDER
Act 1: 65 mins
Interval: 20 mins
Act 2: 60 mins
Total Running time: 2 hours 25 mins (including a 20 minute interval)

FOOD AND DRINK AT THE PARADE THEATRES DURING THE GATE | FRIEL SEASON
The bar will be open an hour prior to each performance, serving light meals, confectionary and hot and cold beverages. The café at NIDA will be open Mon-Fri 9am-4pm and Sat-Sun 10am-2pm.

EAT DRINK TALK ART
Tue 27 Jan - Gate | Friel
Michael Colgan, Director of Dublin’s Gate Theatre, and performers from the company discuss the Gate’s special relationship with the works of Brian Friel, Ireland’s greatest living playwright, with Festival Director Fergus Linehan.
For more info on the Eat Drink Talk Art series, click here.

Warning: This production contains the use of tobacco products.

PHOTO: BOBBIE HANVEY

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WHAT THE PRESS SAID

“The storytelling, as to be expected of the Gate Theatre, is highly accomplished and darkening vision works its magic in the mot natural and unforced of ways...more” – The Sydney Morning Herald – 20 January

“It is this desire to explain the inexplicable which lies at the heart of Brian Friel's Faith Healer. Arguably his most poetic and impressive work.” - Renascence, Fall 2004, Margaret Strain

“As masterly a dramatist as the theatre possesses.” - The Times

"His [Friel's] contribution to Irish theatre over a period of 45 years has been immense...more" - The Independent

“This is an extraordinarily rich, elusively looping piece of writing... more” - The Independent

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COMMENTS

MInerva 15/01/09

Perfect. The script is so alive and the actors live it. The volume needs to be up a tiny bit - at interval, a few said they found the dialogue a little hard to hear.

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lionard o suilleabhain 16/01/09

Great performances by a great team of actors.Not a fan of the acting space though.

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Mary Tang 01/02/09

I must admit to being disappointed in Faith Healer after seeing After Play and The Yalta Game. I failed to connect with these characters although Kim Durham's performance was engaging. I also found it difficult to hear the actors. I'm glad I saw it last or I may not have wanted to see the other two Gate/Friel productions. I presume that is why there was a small audience for After Play when I attended. I heard some said that this play is 'better value' because it runs twice as long, but I believe, in this case, that less is more.

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