The play "Translations" based on the play by Brian Friel

Brian Friel's iconic play, written in 1980, transports audiences to Ireland in 1833 — a period of profound upheaval. In a rural schoolhouse in County Donegal, the local community faces the first British mapping of the country, the anglicization of Irish place names, and the replacement of traditional learning with a new national system. As familiar places receive new names and the native language is transformed, everything familiar collapses, marking a loss of cultural identity.

Friel described "Translations" as a play about language, which here serves not just as a means of communication, but as a field of power, misunderstanding, and resistance. The renaming of territories is presented not as an administrative act, but as a mechanism that redefines a people's connection to their land.

Director Patrick Miles, together with assistant director Andreas Tselepos, convey the spirit of the era with realistic precision, drawing parallels between 19th-century Ireland and the history of Cyprus.