SOURCE: "What's in a Name?" in Newsweek, Vol. XCVII, No. 18, 4 May 1981, p. 49.

In his review of Translations, Kroll states that beneath the surface of "this sweet and subtle play" lies a "powerful study of the roots of imperialism, the take-over not just of a country but of a spirit through the take-over of its language."

Resistance to England is a theme lodged deep within the Irish heart and the Irish theater, but Brian Friel's Translations must be the most unusual play ever written on this theme. It deals not with bombs or politics, but with language. The year is 1833, when British Army engineers began to map out Ireland and to Anglicize every place name in the country—a pivotal moment in a complex conflict. The scene is a Donegal hedge school—one of those remarkable schools where peasant children (and grownups) could learn not only the three R's...