Philadelphia, Here I Come! Questions and Answers
by Brian Friel

Playwright Brian Friel has spent his entire life in one place, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland, feeling that tradition forms the structure that supports human life. His plays depict the human...

Gar's memory of the blue boat and of his father and himself fishing when he was a child is not shared by his father, just as certain 'memories' of his father's about Gar's childhood are not shared...

Brian Friel’s play Philadelphia, Here I Come is set in the small village of Ballybeg in County Donegal, Ireland, the kind of region from which many an Irish immigrant departed for the United States...

To a large extent, Aunt Lizzy acts as the catalyst for Gar's decision to emigrate to the United States. In that sense, her role has great dramatic significance. Gar doesn't have a mother, and Aunt...

Gar has mixed emotions about his departure as demonstrated by both Gar Public and Gar Private. In the opening scene, Gar is optimistic about his departure to Philadelphia the following day and...