THE Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District, Councillor Elisha McCallion, today opened a Book of Condolence at the Guildhall in memory of acclaimed writer and playwright Brian Friel.
The writer, whose award winning works such as Dancing at Lughnasa and Philadelphia Here I Come are known throughout the world, passed away aged 86.
Born in Country Tyrone, Brian Friel was educated in Derry and has always retained close links with the city, co-founding local theatre company Field Day with actor Stephen Rea, and staging many of his renowned plays in the city over the years.
Members of the public are invited to record any personal tributes in the book which will be on display in the Guildhall over the coming weeks.
Mayor McCallion said Brian Friel’s work would have a lasting legacy here in the city and beyond.
“I was deeply saddened today to hear the news that today Ireland has lost one of the greatest playwrights and writers of our time, Brian Friel.
“Brian Friel’s links with Derry extend back through the decades, first as a schoolboy at the Long Tower and St Columb’s, and later as co-founder of production company Field Day in 1980, when he was one of the great minds behind the revival of Derry’s drama scene.
“His own lifelong passion for the land of his birth is resonant in his many sensitive and stirring reflections on the world of rural Ireland, and some of his greatest works including Dancing at Lughnasa and Philadelphia Here I Come have captivated audiences across the world, from the stages of the Guildhall to Broadway.
“Brian Friel will be remembered as one of the most accomplished and successful writers of the last two centuries and I know his work, like that of Heaney, Yeats and Shaw will be celebrated throughout the ages.”
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