GATE FRIEL, a season of three Brian Friel plays, has won a Herald Angel award in Edinburgh.
The Gate Theatre season, which has been running through August as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, has had excellent reviews. On Saturday it received the award for “superb stagings of three works by Brian Friel featuring first class actors, and presented in marathon sessions”.
The Gate productions of the three plays: Faith Healer, Afterplayand The Yalta Game, were performed this January at the Sydney Festival. Following Edinburgh they will come to Dublin, opening from Wednesday for a short run. Moreover, at the Abbey this week there are rehearsed readings of three plays selected by Friel, who is 80 this year, followed by a tribute night on Sunday.
Gate director Michael Colgan was delighted with the win: “It went really well and we had a rousing time on Saturday.”
There was a big Irish presence at the International and Fringe festivals in Edinburgh this year, and "it was great to be part of the whole Irish package in Edinburgh. Culture Ireland supported seven Irish shows there . . . Ireland Inc needs to be properly represented, especially at a time when the New York Timeswas reporting about Éireann go Broke," Mr Colgan said.
Brian Friel, visited Edinburgh to see the plays and shows “huge and detailed interest” in the productions, according to Mr Colgan.
Another of the Irish productions in Edinburgh this year, Little Gemby Dubliner Elaine Murphy, won the Carol Tambor award on the Fringe, ensuring it a New York run (it's running at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght).
Irish actor Aindrias De Staic, known for his role in The Clinicon RTÉ, won a ThreeWeeks Editors' Award for "his fabulous mix of music, comedy and storytelling" in The Summer I Did The Leavingon the Fringe.
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen congratulated playwright Brian Friel and the Gate on the award. It is, he said, “another fine example of the impact of our cultural creativity internationally”. Mr Cullen made a case for continued support for the arts, despite financial difficulties.
“The Government firmly believes that our cultural and artistic reputation is one of our most potent calling cards internationally and it is imperative that we continue to fund and support activity in this sector in the coming years,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Fringe Festival, now called Absolut Fringe, started on Saturday and is set to attract some 150,000 people over 16 days. The festival includes more than 100 shows comprising theatre, music, dance, live and visual arts.