0:00:12 > 0:00:16I was born in Omagh in County Tyrone in 1929.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22I'm married. I have five children. I live in the country.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27I smoke too much. I fish a bit. I read a lot. I worry a lot.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29I get involved in sporadic causes
0:00:29 > 0:00:32and invariably regret the involvement.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35And I hope that, between now and my death,
0:00:35 > 0:00:39I will have acquired a religion or a philosophy, or sense of life,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42that will make the end less frightening
0:00:42 > 0:00:44than it appears to me at this moment.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15When I was a boy, we always spent a portion of our summer holidays
0:01:15 > 0:01:16in my mother's old home
0:01:16 > 0:01:19near the village of Glenties, in County Donegal.
0:01:20 > 0:01:26I have memories of those holidays that are as pellucid, as intense,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28as if they happened last week.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33I remember in detail the shape of cups hanging in the scullery,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36the pattern of flags on the kitchen floor,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40every knot of wood on the wooden stairway,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43every door handle, every smell,
0:01:43 > 0:01:46the shape and texture of every tree around the place.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52This is Glenties, County Donegal,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Brian Friel's spiritual home.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57It inspired his fictional Ballybeg,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59the location for many of his plays,
0:01:59 > 0:02:01including Philadelphia, Here I Come,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Translations and Dancing At Lughnasa.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08This place is now as rooted in global theatrical history
0:02:08 > 0:02:11as Chekhov's provincial Russia
0:02:11 > 0:02:14or Tennessee Williams's southern states of America.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Tonight, we remember this extraordinary writer
0:02:20 > 0:02:22and most private of men,
0:02:22 > 0:02:26who chose Ballybeg as his final resting place.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39But from Glenties to the Guildhall,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43where Irish theatre history was made in September 1980.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45Field Day Theatre Company
0:02:45 > 0:02:48was co-founded by Brian Friel and actor Stephen Rea.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Their first production was the now classic Friel play,
0:02:51 > 0:02:56Translations, starring Stephen Rea and a young Liam Neeson.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59It has been said that it was not so much a premiere
0:02:59 > 0:03:01as the initiation of a movement.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Can you remember the first time you met Brian?
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Yes. It was at the Royal Court Theatre in London.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12We were doing Freedom Of The City,
0:03:12 > 0:03:13Brian's play,
0:03:13 > 0:03:18that was provoked by the events of Bloody Sunday
0:03:18 > 0:03:21and Albert Finney directed it
0:03:21 > 0:03:24and Brian came over for rehearsals.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26And that's when I first met him.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28And we hit it off, you know?
0:03:28 > 0:03:32He was very brotherly, paternal, whatever.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34There was an obvious connection.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36And, seven years later,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39you co-found Field Day Theatre Company.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Where did the idea come from?
0:03:41 > 0:03:44It was very simple - someone in the Arts Council,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Imelda Foley from Derry,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49told me there was some money knocking about
0:03:49 > 0:03:53and would I like to use it?
0:03:53 > 0:03:57And so you asked him to write a play which then became Translations?
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Yeah. I think he was working on it.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04I think he said, "I'm working on a play about the place names."
0:04:04 > 0:04:07But he very quickly just said OK.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11- And that's all it took, really. - And was it a one-off?
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Did you ever imagine that it would become a theatre company,
0:04:15 > 0:04:16there would be a board,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18there would be all that stuff that goes with?
0:04:18 > 0:04:20No - all of that happened incrementally.
0:04:20 > 0:04:21Just... It didn't happen...
0:04:21 > 0:04:24There was no agenda, there was no plan, it was just...
0:04:24 > 0:04:28We did a play and then we thought, "Well, we'll do another play."
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Did your friendship then, with Brian,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36was it really forged during those Field Day years?
0:04:36 > 0:04:41Yes. It's what Seamus Deane called "amicitia", you know?
0:04:41 > 0:04:45It was friendship within a project.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49But there was something about that connection with you and Brian
0:04:49 > 0:04:53that seemed to transcend the project base.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55I think it was the...
0:04:56 > 0:05:00..the sense of how important it was to be doing what we were doing
0:05:00 > 0:05:06and the sense of responsibility and...the sheer pleasure, as well.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09He was a dear, dear friend
0:05:09 > 0:05:14and...had more influence on me than anyone else and...
0:05:14 > 0:05:16He had an immense kindness, an immense generosity.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21I have attempted to hold together
0:05:21 > 0:05:23a harassed and a confused people
0:05:23 > 0:05:26by trying to keep them in touch with the life they knew
0:05:26 > 0:05:28before they were overrun.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Did he shape you as an actor?
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Do you think that the actor you are now is because of him?
0:05:36 > 0:05:39All good writing shapes you as an actor.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Great writing, God knows... Yeah.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46I've been lucky to be connected with some writers.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Brian had a huge influence on me, not just...
0:05:49 > 0:05:52As a writer, of course, and as a man, but...
0:05:52 > 0:05:57His whole philosophy, his whole perception,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00was a constant learning experience for me.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04When Field Day was formed,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06and I sat at a table
0:06:06 > 0:06:09with Heaney and Seamus Deane
0:06:09 > 0:06:13and Brian and Tom Paulin and Tom Kilroy,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16I just sat there and drank it in, you know?
0:06:16 > 0:06:23Because the level that they were at was so...astounding, you know?
0:06:23 > 0:06:25At the time of Brian's death,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28you called him "a shy man and a showman".
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Why do you think he pulled back from the media so much?
0:06:32 > 0:06:35I don't know, because he was willing enough at a certain point,
0:06:35 > 0:06:42and he was very chippy and bright and cheeky.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45But in himself, he was a very shy man.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52That's why all the plays, the great instruments of theatre...
0:06:52 > 0:06:55He doesn't get so hung up on something
0:06:55 > 0:06:56that it's not going to work.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59He makes sure that the play works, you know?
0:06:59 > 0:07:02It's a rare talent, you know, because all the plays work.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05How will you remember him?
0:07:05 > 0:07:10I remember him always being...irreverent.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17He'd always do this gesture of cheek and defiance, which was kind of...
0:07:19 > 0:07:20You know?
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Kind of, having a go at people.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26In my view, he was a majestic figure.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32The work is devoted to an understanding
0:07:32 > 0:07:36of our particular...sensibilities
0:07:36 > 0:07:43and...the tragic distance that there has been between people.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46He was great. He was not impressed by anything.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50- He was fearless. - I think he was fearless, yeah.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54And...
0:07:56 > 0:07:58You know? He was theatre. He was theatre.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06The playwright is never fully his own man.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09The playwright requires interpreters.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Without actors, and without a performance,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16his manuscript is a lifeless literary exercise,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18a kite without wind,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21a boat waiting for a tide.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23And the day he completes his script,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26he has won a battle and takes on a war.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31While Field Day's impact was arguably global,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33its base was here in Derry,
0:08:33 > 0:08:35and its administration team was local -
0:08:35 > 0:08:37something that was important to Friel.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40Colette Nelis ran the office day-to-day,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43where I first got to know her when I worked for Field Day
0:08:43 > 0:08:44as a student volunteer.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58My job basically was, kind of,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01all the administration that was involved in the background,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03you know - things like organising the accommodation
0:09:03 > 0:09:08for the actors in the production. Basically...
0:09:08 > 0:09:09going out to the venues,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12and if there was no box office, setting a box office up.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16That was the thrill of Field Day, and working with Brian.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21He would have been very involved in everything that was going on.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Everything was done locally - the Guildhall staff,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26everything was sourced...
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Everything was sourced here and there was a policy
0:09:28 > 0:09:31when it came to, kind of, paying bills and things like that,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35the small, independent person was paid first.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38There was a real honesty and commitment of the man.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43You must have also had to field people, you know,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46wanting to have conversations with Brian.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Brian was very protective of his privacy,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52but I think that was born of either misrepresentation
0:09:52 > 0:09:54or just a bad experience with the press.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58So I think he felt the safest way was to stay clear.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02Colette, it's lovely to be sitting here
0:10:02 > 0:10:05in the Guildhall with you again.
0:10:05 > 0:10:06Everything happened here.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08This was so central to Field Day
0:10:08 > 0:10:11and the memories of Brian and Stephen sitting in
0:10:11 > 0:10:13on all of the productions.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15Does she know Latin? Is she certain of the words?
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Very little, very, very little.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19I think, in act one, we have got the three words
0:10:19 > 0:10:23and I think, in this case, you're really inventing it as bog Latin.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25'They are incredible memories and also I remember'
0:10:25 > 0:10:30the kindness of Brian Friel to me, as well, as a young person.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35Yes, but that was the mark of who Brian was.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38He was very caring of the individual.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41I often felt that I wasn't a person
0:10:41 > 0:10:44that did the administration at Field Day,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48I was THE person and, to me, that was very different.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52He cared about the individual.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55I think of the famous parties of Field Day
0:10:55 > 0:10:58in the Guildhall at opening nights.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01The City Council very much decided who was invited
0:11:01 > 0:11:07and I was placed at the door and I had to kind of turn people away.
0:11:07 > 0:11:13Brian was in there, but noticed I wasn't and came out and said,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16"That's not what my staff are here for. Colette, come inside."
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Come in and enjoy the party.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23Come in and enjoy the party, you know, and that is Brian Friel.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27To me, he was a gentleman in every sense of that word.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37The pain or the pleasure the writer experiences
0:11:37 > 0:11:41depends on his attitude to his director and to his actors.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Actors are a very special people.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50All the things that most people dislike in them, I find fascinating.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55But I have yet to meet the director or actor who wouldn't casually
0:11:55 > 0:12:00paraphrase lines of dialogue or indeed transpose whole scenes,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04hence the war or at least the twitching truce.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Friel was renowned as a tough taskmaster.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11He didn't like directors changing any dialogue
0:12:11 > 0:12:15and likened his works to an orchestral score, saying,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18"Would a conductor change the music of a composer?"
0:12:18 > 0:12:22But directors loved working with him and he chose them carefully,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26including Joe Dowling, Patrick Mason and Mick Gordon.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Actor-director Adrian Dunbar was another.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34How hands-on was he? Would he come into rehearsals and sit in on them?
0:12:34 > 0:12:36I directed Philadelphia, Here I Come! up in Derry
0:12:36 > 0:12:39and I was lucky I was directing it in Derry because it meant
0:12:39 > 0:12:43that Brian was able to come and be very hands-on with us
0:12:43 > 0:12:46and actually come and see a little bit of rehearsals
0:12:46 > 0:12:49and make sure we were on the right road, which was great
0:12:49 > 0:12:54because it's fabulous, the relationship between the writer
0:12:54 > 0:12:57and the actor, of course, and he was very encouraging towards
0:12:57 > 0:13:01the actors, which really helped me, of course, as a director.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05He was very thorough and very rigorous
0:13:05 > 0:13:09and didn't stand any frivolity.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12He was a very thorough person.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16I'd have to go up to Greencastle and give him reports.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19This is the schoolteacher in him, you had to give him a report?
0:13:19 > 0:13:20Yes, I had to report to him
0:13:20 > 0:13:23and he very quickly would see through
0:13:23 > 0:13:28if you really hadn't got a pile done and would express that,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32telling you that you're really no further on and...
0:13:32 > 0:13:36You didn't want any of those conversations, did you?
0:13:36 > 0:13:38No, no, it was a couple of times I went up
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and I really hadn't got far enough down the line
0:13:41 > 0:13:45and I used to try and dress it up as positively as I could,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49but Brian of course was able to see through all that
0:13:49 > 0:13:51and you had to be on top of your game to work with him
0:13:51 > 0:13:56and of course, like all great people, all the standards
0:13:56 > 0:14:00rose around him when you started to engage with him and his work.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Appearances can be deceptive, Matthew, can't they?
0:14:02 > 0:14:06I mean, you look at DCI Gates - a very admirable individual,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10a devoted family man, officer of the year.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12You admire him, don't you, Matthew?
0:14:12 > 0:14:17'We know you as an actor probably more so than a director,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20'but you never acted in any of Friel's plays.'
0:14:20 > 0:14:24No, I didn't. I never got... Well, I did get the chance.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26I remember Stephen Rea calling me one time
0:14:26 > 0:14:32when I was doing a lot of TV in the UK and, to a certain extent,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35that's the reason why I went back to working on Brian's plays
0:14:35 > 0:14:39because I realised that there was a huge part
0:14:39 > 0:14:43of my own creative journey that I was missing.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47And of course I regretted it some years later
0:14:47 > 0:14:50'so when I got the chance to re-engage with Brian's work,
0:14:50 > 0:14:55'it was like someone giving me a gift that I could come back to.'
0:14:55 > 0:15:01But I can still go and do Brian's plays. I still think I will.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05That's the wonderful thing about being an actor - you can still
0:15:05 > 0:15:08engage with Chekhov and you can still engage with Ibsen and Turgenev
0:15:08 > 0:15:12and all these people and you'll still be able to engage with Brian.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Do you think he was a genius?
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Yeah, yes, I do, of course I think he was a genius.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25You can't write that many plays, do that many translations,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28have so much success in what must be
0:15:28 > 0:15:33one of the most difficult art forms to achieve success in.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38Way before everybody else understood what a genius Brian Friel was,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41the actors already knew because they were speaking his words,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43they were inhabiting his characters.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48They could see the depth and the scope of what he was doing,
0:15:48 > 0:15:53I think, and they were responding to it in a very immediate way.
0:15:53 > 0:16:00So, yeah, the game is always upped when a genius is around.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05He just lifts all our consciousness, if you like.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10So, yes, Brian's a genius and now that he's left us, of course,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13we recognise even more what a genius he was.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30It was here at the Abbey Theatre in 1962
0:16:30 > 0:16:33that Brian Friel's first stage play, The Enemy Within, was premiered.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Other premieres would follow, including The Freedom Of The City,
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Aristocrats and, most famously, Dancing At Lughnasa.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Playwright Tom Kilroy, a fellow Field Day board member,
0:16:45 > 0:16:47was a lifelong friend of Friel's,
0:16:47 > 0:16:52spending family holidays together and sharing works in progress.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54Tom, when did you first meet Brian?
0:16:56 > 0:17:04We met in 1969 in Mary Lavin's house in County Meath.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06It was one of those dinner parties
0:17:06 > 0:17:09that Mary gave to bring writers together.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11So that was my first contact with him
0:17:11 > 0:17:15and that was the night I heard that voice for the first time,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17you know, that wonderful storytelling voice.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22Then, over the decades, the relationship developed.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25It took many shapes.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29We were in and out of one another's homes
0:17:29 > 0:17:34and there were all those letters, phone calls.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36He was full of gossip and mischief
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and all of those qualities which made him endearing.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Like Mr Beckett, he was a master of the postcard
0:17:43 > 0:17:50and he sent these postcards with hilarious one-liners on them.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54They came through the letterbox like a blast of laughter.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59You also shared works in progress.
0:17:59 > 0:18:05You sent him drafts of your plays and he sent his to you.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Yeah, I saw early drafts of Faith Healer
0:18:09 > 0:18:12and I saw early drafts of Translations
0:18:12 > 0:18:18and I remember getting Translations in an early draft,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22reading it and thinking, "My God, that's an extraordinary scene
0:18:22 > 0:18:25"between that young couple, but it'll never work on stage."
0:18:25 > 0:18:28So I remember writing to him, saying, "This can't work,"
0:18:28 > 0:18:32and he said, "Dear boy, believe me, this WILL work!"
0:18:33 > 0:18:35So he was of course right.
0:18:35 > 0:18:41He had a light-hearted approach to the making of art
0:18:41 > 0:18:45and he had very little time for pretension,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48for any kind of phoniness in attitudes
0:18:48 > 0:18:56and he cut through that with great clarity and I think,
0:18:56 > 0:18:58for that reason, he was a very easy man
0:18:58 > 0:19:00to communicate with about his own work.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04You say that you got an early draft of Translations
0:19:04 > 0:19:09- and that was the beginning of Field Day Theatre Company.- Yes.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13And he then invited you to sit on the board of Field Day.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19Yes, I was very moved by the situation in the North,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23you know, the deep suffering of all kinds of people
0:19:23 > 0:19:29and how could this be alleviated, how could you contribute something.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34Maybe through theatre or through art, which would make hope possible.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38And I was fascinated by that
0:19:38 > 0:19:43and I jumped at the chance of going on the board and, of course,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Field Day brought its productions to London
0:19:47 > 0:19:50and what happened there was that it created
0:19:50 > 0:19:55a relationship between the two islands in theatre
0:19:55 > 0:20:00which hadn't been there before and that was a huge achievement.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03It was a kind of cultural contribution to the process
0:20:03 > 0:20:06that eventually led to the Anglo-Irish peace process,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09and I believe it was that important.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11What will you miss about him?
0:20:11 > 0:20:14I miss the phone calls.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18For a man who lived in this remote corner of the North of Ireland,
0:20:18 > 0:20:23he had an extraordinary knowledge of what was going on in theatre
0:20:23 > 0:20:25elsewhere, the capitals,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28so we had these regular phone calls
0:20:28 > 0:20:32and they were usually sparked by something that had happened
0:20:32 > 0:20:35in theatre somewhere the night before.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37He was a good friend.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38He was a great friend.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58This is the National Library of Ireland in Dublin
0:20:58 > 0:21:03where 160 boxes of the Brian Friel papers are stored.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07There are draft manuscripts, contracts and notebooks
0:21:07 > 0:21:11and hundreds and hundreds of personal letters and postcards
0:21:11 > 0:21:13spanning over 55 years.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28Friel famously withdrew from the media in the early 1980s,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32but he continued to communicate by letters,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34like these, with correspondents as diverse
0:21:34 > 0:21:37as Billy Connolly and Katharine Hepburn.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40One man who got to know Friel in both a personal
0:21:40 > 0:21:42and professional capacity
0:21:42 > 0:21:45was Downpatrick photographer Bobbie Hanvey.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49With unique access to this most private of men,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53the result is a stunning archive of revealing portraits.
0:22:02 > 0:22:03I think that was his favourite one,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06the one where he's looking at the camera.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08The lighting on all that day was just amazing,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10and it sort of lit him up like 3D, nearly.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15He liked that photo. That photo has been used all over the world.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18It's very rugged-looking as well.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21He looks like he's carved out of the rock.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Brian was like the rocks.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25He had this craggy face.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30He had big ears, he had a nose,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33and he'd all the lines on his face, but it all moulded together
0:22:33 > 0:22:35and made him very memorable.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37He had the greatest face that I have ever photographed.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43You photographed him doing the most ordinary of things as well -
0:22:43 > 0:22:47mowing the grass, walking the dog,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51even Brian Friel the beekeeper.
0:22:53 > 0:22:54When I took him that close-up
0:22:54 > 0:22:57in the beekeeper's outfit with the black veil over his face,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59I told him, "You look like a bride."
0:22:59 > 0:23:02In this white gear, he took some laugh at that.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07I was funny with him and we weren't serious with each other.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10I knew nothing about his plays and he knew nothing about photography
0:23:10 > 0:23:12and I respected him for the way he wrote these plays
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and how popular they were all over the world.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18He liked me because I took fairly good photographs of him.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21I took him on another day with a branch,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24a big old branch of a tree that had been broken down at the waterside.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28It was about 12 foot high and he just stood with the branch
0:23:28 > 0:23:31straight up in the air, holding the branch,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33and I took him sideways, profile,
0:23:33 > 0:23:34and this woman from Hungary,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36she was some big university professor or something,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38she wrote to me and she says,
0:23:38 > 0:23:41"That's the greatest photograph I've ever seen of Brian Friel.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43"You've captured his soul."
0:23:43 > 0:23:46I says to Brian, "That was the worst photograph I ever took of you,"
0:23:46 > 0:23:48and he roared laughing.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51You had a great letter-writing relationship as well.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53I used to write to him in the winter time
0:23:53 > 0:23:56and I'd say, "Brian, can I come up in May and see you?"
0:23:56 > 0:23:58He says, "Pencil it in."
0:23:58 > 0:24:00That's the way he liked it.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03It's just... He was so good.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06I says, "You'll be getting as good as Samantha Fox at this posing."
0:24:06 > 0:24:10What was the first picture you ever took of him?
0:24:10 > 0:24:12At the anchor.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16That was the first ones.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17And what were the last?
0:24:17 > 0:24:22The last ones were in the red pullover with Billy, his dog.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32For me, looking at those photographs, it's the intimacy that you get
0:24:32 > 0:24:35with them, whether he's walking the dog
0:24:35 > 0:24:38or he's in his beekeeper's outfit.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41It's the private man that you got.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44He was private, all right, and I was privileged.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48- You must miss him a lot. - I do, I do miss him.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50There's an old saying - if a friend dies,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52they take part of you with them,
0:24:52 > 0:24:54and I found that when Brian died.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57I haven't been feeling right since.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01What will your lasting memory of Brian Friel be?
0:25:01 > 0:25:05He just was like the fellow next door when you went up to meet him.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08There was no airs or graces. No nothing.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11He just loved smoking his big Havana cigar.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13I miss him.
0:25:39 > 0:25:40Over the past ten years,
0:25:40 > 0:25:45I wrote to Brian Friel asking for an interview I never got.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50He always politely declined, a stance I grew to admire.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52He wasn't seduced by the bright lights,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56so it seems fitting then that the bright lights of Broadway,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59where he had his first big hit, Philadelphia, Here I Come,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03were dimmed briefly in his honour earlier this month.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Brian Friel was a true man of theatre.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11He was the business.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18His legacy in terms of Field Day is very seldom does a writer
0:26:18 > 0:26:20influence a whole theatre movement,
0:26:20 > 0:26:27and all of his concerns are taken up the way they were by Field Day.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32The work is really put at the service of an enlightenment
0:26:32 > 0:26:37of a traumatic situation that we were living through.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41I don't care if the English critics acknowledge it or not.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43He was a majestic figure.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45I just think we have to rethink,
0:26:45 > 0:26:51redraw our whole map of not just Irish theatre
0:26:51 > 0:26:54but certainly European theatre.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58You can find people doing his work all over the place.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Rather like Beckett, he's very accessible,
0:27:01 > 0:27:05especially to those people who are dealing with the post-colonial mind-set,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08which he wonderfully danced us through.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Took us, led us out of the parish and into the wide world.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16I think it's going to be a long time before we realise
0:27:16 > 0:27:19the extent of his contribution to the culture,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22and when we do start to realise,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25we'll see what a towering figure he actually is.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30The great thing about him was that he had such vitality,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33such a sense of life,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36that it's very difficult to think that he is gone.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41I mean, he is present in conversations all the time,
0:27:41 > 0:27:43so that he is still with us.
0:27:43 > 0:27:44Human being.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47One of the most intelligent people that I have ever met
0:27:47 > 0:27:49that didn't show it.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51When I think of Brian, I think of him in the office
0:27:51 > 0:27:56with the cigar in hand and the mischief in the eyes.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00To me, he was a gentleman in every sense of that word.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02A lovely human being.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08When you ask me, have I anything to declare,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11and I say, only this and this,
0:28:11 > 0:28:18I assume that you will look beyond the innocent outspread hands.