25th Anniversary Season
by Brian Friel
directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
October 3 – November 25, 2012
Returning January 2– 20, 2013
Set in Derry, Northern Ireland during the aftermath of a civil rights meeting, The Freedom of the City revolves around an inquiry into the shooting by British soldiers of three marchers as they emerged from the Guildhall. As the inquiry continues, with testimony from ‘expert’ witnesses, the play relives the real events that led to its institution. When the police disrupt the peaceful protest, three unarmed strangers, Lily, a middle-aged mother of 11, and Michael and Skinner, two young men, take refuge from the streets and find themselves inexplicably in the Mayor’s Parlor. As the three settle in to the Lord Mayor’s opulent office, word spreads about the “occupation” of the Guildhall. The motley trio is transformed into a band of armed and desperate terrorists, a fiction that is taken up by the church, the media, the army, and nationalist balladeers, all of whom use the myth for their own diverse ends.
“OUTSTANDING” – Time Out New York
“A MASTERPIECE OF TIGHTLY UNIFIED STAGING AND DESIGN. Only an ensemble of formidably talented actors could hope to rise above the maelstrom and give MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES, and Mr. O’Reilly has found just the right people for the job. This is the kind of production in which every element… contributes equally to the total effect, which is NOTHING SHORT OF OVERWHELMING. Mr. Friel and the Irish Rep will show you that it’s possible to make great art out of a great wrong.” — Wall Street Journal
“Sociopolitical themes are invariably woven into the fabric of the great contemporary Irish dramatist Brian Friel’s works, but few are as direct in their focus as “The Freedom of the City,” which is being given A TRENCHANT REVIVAL at the Irish Repertory Theater. Staged by Ciaran O’Reilly with a firm handle on the narrative’s time-shuffling structure and a stinging clarity that illuminates this 1973 play’s multiple perspectives, THE DRAMA STEADILY TIGHTENS ITS GRIP, right up to its shattering conclusion. Given that the outcome is revealed from the start, and that there are somewhat didactic detours along the way, THE PLAY’S EMOTIONAL IMPACT IS ESPECIALLY NOTEWORTHY. Those three lead performances — Ms. Seymour’s the most quietly wrenching — put a haunting human face on the Troubles in Northern Ireland.”
— The New York Times
“Ciaran O’Reilly directs a talented ensemble cast of nine in the THOUGHTFUL, QUITE STIRRING PRODUCTION… Many of Friel’s observations about poverty and power in this compelling work from four decades ago remain unfortunately truer than ever today.” — AP
“BRIAN FRIEL’S GRIPPING PLAY IS BEING GIVEN A POWERFUL REVIVAL. The Freedom of the City is his most overtly political play and can still inspire a sense of outrage at the injustice not only at the killing of unarmed marchers but at the official cover-up that follows. Ciaran O’Reilly’s deft direction keeps building tension toward the play’s foregone conclusion, and A SOLID CAST OF NINE ACTORS PORTRAY SOME 20 ROLES ABLY AND SEAMLESSLY.” — Huffington Post
“What’s marvelous about the play, and why it richly deserves this handsome revival, is how nimbly Friel portrays all the various elements clamoring for a hearing. AS FRIEL PAINTS A BACKDROP OF MENACE HE SIMULTANEOUSLY GIVES HIS THREE PROTAGONISTS BLAZING LIFE. It’s quite a trick that, one that only a master playwright like himself could pull off. Sikora, Seymour and Russell all rise to the challenge of the script with performances that are so nuanced that they quietly steal up on you as the play progresses.” — Irish Voice