[In the review below, Watts states that Philadelphia, Here I Come! is "sad, humorous, bitter and compassionate, bravely honest … a fine and poignant play. "]

To call an Irish comedy Philadelphia, Here I Come! might suggest it was filled with the antic exuberance often believed to be predominant in the Gaelic temperament. But Brian Friel is in no jolly high spirits in his beautiful play, which opened last night at the Helen Hayes Theater.

It has all the rueful sadness more characteristic of what its most famous old song described as "the most distressful country," and it is very moving and true.

In fact, while it has its delightfully humorous moments, it is essentially a comedy only in the Chekhovian sense, and its title turns out to have a suggestion of Chekhov. For Philadelphia, like the Russian playwright's Moscow, is a city the central character dreams of and looks forward to as the goal of his hopes for happiness and fulfillment. Meanwhile, though, he is eating his heart out in loneliness and futile frustration in the drab Irish village of Ballybeg.

There is one narrative trick employed by Mr. Friel, but any fears that it might interfere with illusion are soon ended, and it works admirably. Gareth O'Donnell, the central character, is portrayed by two actors. One, played by Patrick Bedford, is the public Gareth, who is seen by the people of Ballybeg, while the other, acted by Donai Donnelly, is the private Gareth, the somewhat wiser innerself, more introspective and thoughtful than the young man visible to the village. It is remarkable how the two Gareths blend into one believable and touching person.

It is a heartsick youth who is planning to fly to Philadelphia next morning. He is unable to get through to his father, who seems to him dull and unfeeling, and his ineffectuality has lost him the girl he loves. The friends of his own age, who had been so companionable, now appear stupid bores, and, in a once brilliant older man, lost in despairing memories, he recognizes what he will be. Yet he realizes that the aunt he is to visit in America is a foolish and domineering old harridan, and the promise of Philadelphia has lost its savor.

Not since O'Casey has there been an Irish play that was so gloomy, bitter and relentlessly probing in its angry contemplation of the darker side of the national character and temperament, and Philadelphia doesn't even attempt to capture O'Casey's purging lyric grandeur. But Mr. Friel has his own skillful approach. The tediousness of village life, the narrowness, the frustration, sadness and dull conventionality of its people, their sense of defeat and their sexual timidity concealed by boasting are depicted frankly, but understanding and compassion transform them into the stuff of powerful drama.

Hilton Edwards, the English director who is one of the most important figures of the Irish theater, has staged the play brilliantly, and it is admirably acted. Both Mr. Donnelly and Mr. Bedford are first-rate as the two aspects of Gareth O'Donnell, and there is a fine performance by Eamon Kelly as Gareth's dull but pathetic father. But every role is portrayed with an appreciation of their values that deserves praise. Sad, humorous, bitter and compassionate, and bravely honest, Philadelphia, Here I Come! is a fine and poignant play.