Brian Friel (9 January 1929 - 2 October 2015) wrote thirty plays across six decades and is widely regarded as oneof Ireland's greatest dramatists. He was a member of Aosdána, the society of Irish artists, the American Academyof Arts and Letters, the Irish Academy of Letters, and the Royal Society of Literature where he was madea Companion of Literature. He was awarded the Ulysses Medal by University College, Dublin.Plays include Hedda Gabler (after Ibsen), The Home Place, Performances, Three Plays After (Afterplay, The Bear,The Yalta Game), Uncle Vanya (after Chekhov), Give Me Your Answer Do!, Molly Sweeney (Winner of the NewYork Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play), Wonderful Tennessee, A Month in the Country (afterTurgenev), The London Vertigo (after Charles Macklin), Dancing at Lughnasa (Winner of 3 Tony Awards includingBest Play, New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, Olivier Award for Best Play), Making History, TheCommunication Cord, American Welcome, Three Sisters (after Chekhov), Translations, Aristocrats (Winner of theEvening Standard Award for Best Play and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play), FaithHealer, Fathers and Sons, Living Quarters, Volunteers, The Freedom of the City, The Gentle Island, The MundyScheme, Crystal and Fox, Lovers: Winners and Losers, The Loves of Cass Maguire, and Philadelphia Here I Come!Anton Chekhov, Russian dramatist and short-story writer, was born in 1860, the son of a grocer and the grandson of a serf. After graduating in medicine from Moscow University in 1884, he began to make his name in the theatre with the one-act comedies The Bear, The Proposal and The Wedding. His earliest full-length plays, Ivanov (1887) and The Wood Demon (1889), were not successful, and The Seagull, produced in 1896, was a failure until a triumphant revival by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. This was followed by Uncle Vanya (1899), Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904), shortly after the production of which Chekhov died. The first English translations of his plays were performed within five years of his death.
