Brian Friel, the Tony Award-winning playwright who created “Dancing at Lughnasa” and more than 30 other plays, has died in Ireland, according to The Associated Press. He was 86.
The government and the Arts Council of Ireland said Friel died Friday in his seaside home in County Donegal, northwest Ireland, the setting for most of his five decades of work, the AP said. No cause of death was given.
“His mythical stories from Ballybeg reached all corners of the world from Dublin to London to Broadway and onto the silver screen,” said Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who praised Friel as “the consummate Irish storyteller. His work spoke to each of us with humor, emotion and authenticity.”
DUBLIN (AP) – Irish authorities say Brian Friel, the Tony Award-winning playwright who created “Dancing at Lughnasa” and more than 30 other plays, has died at the age of 86.
The Arts Council of Ireland says in a statement that Friel died Friday. The cause of death was not given.
The statement says Frield “was, quite simply, a giant not only of Irish but of world theater.”
Trained as a teacher, Friel turned to writing plays full time after the international success of his debut 1964 play, “Philadelphia, Here I Come!”
He collaborated with poet Seamus Heaney, actor Stephen Rea and fellow playwright Frank McGuinness in creating Ireland’s Field Day Theatre Company and produced its most celebrated work, “Translations,” in 1980.
“Dancing at Lughnasa” won three Tonys in 1992.
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