Translations: Use of performance space

Understanding Performance Space in Translations

The performance space for Translations is important in depicting the divided community and the linguistic chaos.
Brian Friel creates a multifunctional setting, Hedge School, which serves as a home, classroom, and gathering place, highlighting its central importance to the community.

Significance of Hedge School

The Hedge school embodies Irish culture and heritage, making it a symbol of resistance against English domination. The destruction of it further signifies the end of the traditional Irish way of life.
Since lessons at the Hedge School are conducted in both Latin and Gaelic, it represents a place of linguistic unity, starkly contrasting the language divide proliferated by English colonisers.
Despite being one singular physical space, the Hedge School encapsulates various spaces – home, school, and bar, showing how closely personal, educational, and social lives are intertwined in the community.

Impact of Performance Space

The proximity of characters in the performance space enhances the intensity of the play’s emotional and interpersonal conflicts.
The destruction of the school, a core part of the performance space, signifies the obliteration of the Irish language, culture, and identity that it represents.
The use of space in Translations can be seen not only as representative of physical locations but also of emotional landscapes and cultural boundaries.

Comparing Translations with Other Plays

Examine how Translations uses its setting and performance space compared to other works like ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller, where the setting is also deeply intertwined with themes of community and resistance.
Analyse the implications of a single, multifunctional setting such as the Hedge School in Translations, versus a play with multiple separate locations, like ‘The Glass Menagerie’ by Tennessee Williams.
Investigate how Friel’s use of performance space as both a physical and emotional landscape compares to other plays exploring cultural or social issues, such as ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams.