SOURCE: "Derry Translations," in Eire Ireland: A Journal of Irish Studies, Vol. XV, No. 4, Winter, 1980, pp. 126-28.

Translations debuted in the Fall of 1980 in a Field Day Theatre production at the Guildhall in Derry (Londonderry), Northern Ireland. The following April, it opened off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In the following review of the Derry staging, Rushe provides a historical background to the subject of the play, noting that the cultural conflicts of the past still exist today.

Derry is an ancient and storied city. Its history can be traced back to 546 when the great St. Colmcille, or Columba, founded a monastery at a place called Doire Calgaich, or "Calgach's oak-wood," close to the River Foyle. Today, more than fourteen centuries later, its name in English is Derry or Londonderry, largely depending on the political persuasion of the user. The Doire Calgaich monastery thrived. Indeed, it was of...