Translations, by the great writer of Irish theatre Brian Friel, is presented for the first time in Cyprus at the Main Stage of the Cyprus Theatre Organisation, directed by Patrick Myles.

Written in 1980, Friel’s iconic play transports us to Ireland in 1833, during a period of profound external and internal upheaval. In an open-air rural school in Donegal, a small community faces the first British mapping of the country and the anglicisation of Irish place names, as well as the replacement of traditional education with the new national education system. As places are renamed and the local language is transformed, everything that once seemed stable and familiar begins to falter, marking the gradual loss of cultural identity and the experience of displacement.

Through the clash between old and new institutions, Friel illuminates the complexity of language as a bearer of historical memory and collective experience. He himself described Translations as “a play about language,” yet here language is not merely a tool of communication: it becomes a field of power, misunderstanding, imposition, and resistance. Mapping and naming do not function as neutral administrative acts but as mechanisms that redefine a community’s relationship with its land. Friel’s writing—at times bitter and tender, harsh and sensitive, and at others lyrical and humorous—unfolds a reflection on language and the cultural character of a nation, with words revealing the limits, fractures, and possibilities of communication.

The director of the production, Patrick Myles—who also co-translated the play with his associate director Andreas Tselepos—approaches the pulse of the era with realistic precision while activating a system of references that bridges 19th-century Ireland with colonised Cyprus.

Performances

Nicosia
THOC Theatre, “Evis Gavriilidis” Main Stage
From 28 March 2026
Friday & Saturday at 20:00, Sunday at 18:00

Tour

Paphos: Markideion Theatre | Wednesday 29 April 2026, 20:30
Larnaca: Municipal Theatre G. Lykourgos | Wednesday 6 May 2026, 20:30
Limassol: Rialto Theatre | Friday 15 May 2026, 20:30