MTC Replaces Country Girl with Friel's Translations

The previously-announced Manhattan Theatre Club production of Clifford Odets' The Country Girl, which was slated for a Broadway run at the Biltmore Theatre this season, will now be replaced by a revival of the Brian Friel play Translations.

The 1981 work Translations, which was previously mounted on Broadway in 1995, will be directed by Tony Award-winner Garry Hynes (The Beauty Queen of Leenane, "DruidSynge").  It will begin previews at the Biltmore on January 4th and open on January 25th, 2007. 

Translations, which received its Off-Broadway American premiere at MTC in 1981, is a story of cultural conflict, as the residents of the fictional Irish county of Ballybeg shift languages from Gaelic to English in the 19th century.  "Poignant and moving, Translations depicts the power of language to unite and divide people in a time of cultural imperialism," according to press notes. Friel's other plays include Faith Healer, Dancing at Lughnasa and Philadelphia, Here I Come.

The Country Girl, which was to have begun previews in April of 2007, will now be presented by MTC during the theatre's 2007-2008 season.

Translations will be presented as a co-production with New Jersey's McCarter Theatre, and the play will first be presented there in October.

Set and costume design will be by Francis O'Connor, with lighting design by Davy Cunningham, sound design by John Leonard, and music by Sam Jackson.

No casting has been announced.