Fluent ‘Translations’: Writers Theatre delivers eloquent revival of provocative drama

“Translations” — 3.5 stars

Celebrated Irish playwright Brian Friel made the subject of his play “Translations” quite clear.

He said his play “has to do with language and only language,” an issue he described in a 1982 interview as “a very problematic one for us all on this island.”

Indeed, “Translations” is about language: first as a means of communication (and miscommunication), later as evidence of conformity (and resistance) and always as both an expression (and erasure) of cultural identity.

By turns sensitive, funny and tragic, Friel’s 1980 drama also examines the ever-timely topic of how ordinary folks react to their changing world.

Writers Theatre’s carefully calibrated revival — deeply felt but not overly sentimental — is helmed by artistic director Braden Abraham. Well-cast and subtly acted, Abraham’s production resonates with a kind of understated gravitas and pathos.

The time is 1833. The place is the fictional Baile Beag, a remote Irish burg. There, in a ramshackle former barn (the rustic set is by Andrew Boyce; the sepia-tinged lighting by Maximo Grano De Oro), the erudite, oft-inebriated Hugh O’Donnell (played with faded panache by Kevin Gudahl) and his long-suffering, learned son Manus (a quietly yearning Andrew Mueller) run an Irish-language “hedge school” where they educate their neighbors on classics and other subjects.

The play commences with Manus teaching timid Sarah (Julia Rowley), whose speech impediment makes communication nearly impossible, to say her name. Nearby, Hugh’s longtime friend and drinking partner Jimmy Jack (Jonathan Weir, providing comic relief and bonhomie) reads aloud Homer and Virgil while pining for the Athene, the Greek goddess of wisdom.

Doalty (Ian Maryfield), a playful bloke more serious than he appears, arrives and recounts a prank he played on the British soldiers who’ve arrived in Ireland to map the country and rename places according to “the king’s good English.” He’s accompanied by Bridget (Chloe Baldwin), a bright young woman privy to all the town gossip.

Rounding out the ragtag class is a determined young woman named Maire (Tyler Meredith, channeling restless frustration), whose romance with Manus is on the wane. Instead of Greek and Latin, Maire wants to learn English in preparation for emigrating to America after the harvest.

“The old language is a barrier to modern progress,” she insists to fellow students, who are less inclined to abandon their native tongue.

Enter Hugh’s youngest son, Owen (the charismatic Casey Hoekstra as a most cordial pragmatist), a Dublin dandy and successful businessman returning home after six years to serve as translator for no-nonsense cartographer Captain Lancey (Gregory Linington) and his assistant Lt. George Yolland (a guileless Erik Hellman), charged with anglicizing locale names. A starry-eyed dreamer, George becomes enamored with Ireland and with Maire, who is equally smitten.

Manus opposes replacing Irish names, suggesting it dilutes the nation’s language and its character. Owen, called “Roland” by British colleagues, disagrees.

“It’s only a name,” he argues. “It’s the same me, isn’t it?”

Many would claim otherwise.

The play is presented in English, but with the exception of the O’Donnells, who are fluent in both languages, the Irish characters speak only Irish and the British characters speak only British. The result is both comical (in the case of Owen’s loose translations and Doalty’s jabs) and poignant. The latter is evidenced in the lovely conclusion to Act I where Maire and George — in a delicately staged pas de deux — communicate their mutual passion despite their inability to express it in words and without realizing their opposing desires. She wants to leave Ireland; he wants to stay.

Incomprehension benefits them, at least temporarily. But anyone who’s experienced William Shakespeare’s plays understands how misunderstanding and miscommunication can end in tragedy.

I would argue that Friel has crafted several scenes in “Translations” that equal Shakespeare’s in weight and eloquence.

Kudos to Abraham and his cast — Gudahl, Mueller, Hoekstra, Meredith and Hellman in particular — for their fluency.

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Location: Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe, (847) 242-6000, writerstheatre.org

Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday through May 4

Tickets: Start at $35

Running time: About 2 hours, 20 minutes, with intermission

Parking: On the street

Rating: For teens and older