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18 Adetomiwa Edun, Colin Morgan and Seamus O'Hara in Translations. Photo: Catherine Ashmore TRANSLATIONS Olivier Theatre Brian Friel’s multi award-winning play Translations is considered by many to be his masterpiece. First performed in Derry in 1980, then staged in London the following year at the Hampstead theatre before its run at the Lyttelton, it now returns to the Olivier in an impeccable production, directed by Ian Rickson, that unequivocally confirms its status as one of the great English-speaking plays of the last forty years. It is with a certain irony that I say English-speaking, for although audiences are hearing it in English, the majority of the characters are actually meant to be communicating in Irish. Initially this is a tad confusing especially when a contingent of English sappers arrive who do not understand any Irish and, of course, converse solely in English. In other words, foreigners and locals speak the same tongue, but without understanding one another. The play, however, is so skilfully written that you soon surrender to what in lesser hands could have been a very awkward contrivance. The setting is the small, rural farming village of Baile Beag (or Ballybeg as it came to be known) in Donegal, and the time is 1833. Though the local folk are isolated from the rest of the world, oblivious to everything other than their own hardships and deprivations, several of them regularly attend a hedge school at which, surprisingly, Latin and Greek are taught while English is ignored. The drink-prone schoolmaster overseeing these classes is a grizzled Lear-like father-figure called Hugh (Ciaran Hinds), whose love of classical Greece has been passed on to his devotee Jimmy Jack (Dermot Crowley) an unlikely Homer-obsessed tramp-like eccentric who informs us that his wife to be is Pallas Athene and that they plan to marry by Christmas. Myth rather than reality is what keeps him going. Other regular presences are Manus (Seamus O’Hara) Hugh’s crippled older son who teaches at the school, Sarah (Michelle Fox), an almost mute waif of a girl, and Maire (Judith Roddy) a determined young woman who longs to free herself from the shackles of isolated conformity, and who, like so many Irish of the period, wants to emigrate to America. The play’s narrative is propelled into action with the arrival of Hugh’s younger son Owen (Colin Morgan). For the last six years he has been in Dublin improving his lot, is fluent in English, and with a very different ideology from his brother, returns to Baile Begg as a translator to Captain Lancey (Rufus Wright) a cartographer from England, together with an appealingly free-spirited Lieutenant Yolland (Adetomiwa Edun). Their assignment is to produce an ordnance survey map of the area and to anglicise all name places. Romance briefly blossoms between Yolland who is smitten both by the beauty of Donegal and by the charms of Maire. He can’t speak Irish, she can’t speak English. Yet in the play’s justly celebrated cross-cultural tryst the couple convey their passion for each other without understanding a word either is saying. Though the poetry in the writing here is exceptional, the consequences, dramatically, are disastrous: the vocally challenged Sarah sees Yolland and Maire kissing and, ironically, though practically dumb, finds a way of imparting this to Manus who was hoping to marry Maire himself after being offered a better paid teaching job at a National School. The damage is irreparable. Yolland goes mysteriously missing and, if he isn’t found in 48 hours, his superior commander threatens the community with the wholesale slaughter of their livestock, eviction and the levelling of their homes. t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
Though Friel has disingenuously claimed that Translations was never meant to be a political play, there is no denying it is a microcosm of the problems that have beset Ireland right up to the present time. But more fundamentally, it is a play about the power and importance of language – both as a bond and as a barrier – and is rich in symbolism. Manus’s disability is endemic of the community’s inability to progress; Yolland and Maire’s lack of verbal communication speaks volumes about the the nature of communication, while the name-changing in the mapmaking process equates to the rape and surrendering of Irish culture, the effects of which still bear scars. Friel posits many on-going questions about Ireland and its past but offers no easy catchall answers. Indeed, plot-wise the play’s ending is pretty indeterminate and ambiguous in its message. But there is no denying the resonance of his commitment to the on-going conundrum of Ireland vs England or the energy of the writing which is as compulsive as is Rickson’s exemplary direction My initial fear with this revival was that the Olivier was, perhaps, too vast a space to distil the essence of an intimate tragedy about a small community’s lack of communication and failure to understand the world they inhabit. But Rae Smith’s design, comprising a stair-case at the extreme left of the stage almost as high as the auditorium itself, the farm buildingcum-hedge school and a marshy landscape with its atmospheric cloud formations, provides an appropriately epic scale to a contemporary classic. The cast is uniformly excellent with Colin Morgan as the official translator, Dermot Crowley’s classical scholar, Ciarian Hinds’s poteen-fuelled head school master, Adetomiwa Edun’s lovestruck Lieutenant, Judith Roddy as the object of his affection and Michelle Fox as hapless Sarah brlnging total conviction to every scene they’re in. A timely revival and a much needed return to form for the National Theatre. CLIVE HIRSCHHORN Photo: Matthew Murphy Michael Jibson (King George). NEW BOOKING PERIOD ANNOUNCED FOR HAMILTON A new booking period for the London production of Hamilton goes on sale this week with tickets now available to be purchased for performances to Saturday 30 March 2019. Hamilton is the story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and helped shape the very foundations of the America we know today. The score blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B and Broadway – the story of America then, as told by America now. Hamilton has book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is directed by Thomas Kail, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire and based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton. Full ticketing information can be found on the official website at hamiltonthemusical.co.uk which includes details of the Hamilton West End £10 daily Lottery. In addition, visitors are advised to check the official Hamilton channels for news of late release seats which may become available at short notice. CIRCOLOMBIA HEADLINES SOUTHBANK UNDERBELLY FESTIVAL Circus performers have brought guts, grace and gusto, direct from Bogota to London’s Southbank as Circolombia performs its headline run at the Underbelly Festival until 14 July. The highly acclaimed show packed full of explosive Latin energy from a fourteen strong cast of world class circus artists, captures the endless dynamic force of Colombian life through relentless performance and jaw dropping skill. Circolombia is no ordinary circus. Coupled with live original music and electrifying singers, Circolombia delivers world-class, gravity defying performances that will have audiences shaking their heads in disbelief and dancing in the aisles to the beat-heavy soundscape. The electrifying troupe bring their unique and visceral performance style inspired by Colombia’s diverse communities to every performance. Circolombia features the raw, fearless power of fourteen of the most talented performers across the country, capturing the pace of life and Colombian energy. Delivering spectacular performance coupled with mind-boggling acrobatic skill and a willingness to take terrifying risks on stage, Circolombia promises a show audiences never forget. Circolombia's Julia Sanchez Aja performs the Cloud Swing. (c) The Other Richard. 19 t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
Page 1: 62 Years Informing International &
Page 4 and 5: 4 HARD ROCK CAFE LONDON CELEBRATES
Page 6 and 7: 6 BRAND NEW QUIZ NIGHTS IN THE GREA
Page 8: 8 Mark Wilde. THE CAMDEN CHOIR PERF
Page 11 and 12: Roddy Williams. RAF CENTENARY CONCE
Page 14 and 15: 14 THE ULTIMATE BRUNCH ON BATEAUX L
Page 16: 16 ALICE BY MAX SIR AT THE EMBASSY
Page 21 and 22: AN IDEAL HUSBAND A major revival of

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