Irish Writer Brian Friel Dies At 86
I once chatted with him at a luncheon and, when I told him I grew up in rural America, he started talking to me about peat. (Even though, to my knowledge, there’s no peat where I grew up.) At his best, as in my favorite of his plays, “Dancing at Lughnasa,” Friel could combine the Christian and the pagan with exhilarating results. “Faith Healer” was another of his masterpieces, and it was revived a few years back with Ralph Fiennes (pictured with Friel).
