Though Brian Friel's Translations doesn't deal directly with the Troubles—it takes place during a different historical era—it does nonetheless suggest certain parallels with that notoriously bloody period of Irish history, when over 3,600 people died, most of them at the hands of terrorist groups.

The conflict between unionists, who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, and nationalists, who wanted the six northern counties to become part of a united Ireland, is reflected in the cultural and ethnic differences between the British and Irish people explored in the play.

It is clear from Friel's treatment of this often fraught interaction that he holds out hope for the prospect of reconciliation between the two sides of the conflict. Love and humanity are seen to score a brief triumph over cultural, national, and linguistic differences in the shape of the relationship between the British officer Lieutenant Yolland the native Irishwoman Maire. They fall in love despite their inability to speak each other's language, and despite the fact that Yolland is engaged in a colonialist project of translating Irish place names into English.

None of this is to minimize the huge differences that still separate the two, differences that ultimately lead to Yolland's disappearance. But Friel, in insisting on the importance of universal values in the midst of political strife, does nonetheless point to a way in which amicable cross-cultural relationships at an individual level might well form the basis of a more general reconciliation between the two sides.