SOURCE: "Chekov in Ireland: Brief Notes on Friel's Philadelphia," in Comparative Drama, Vol. VII, No. 3, Fall, 1973, pp. 191-97.

In the essay below, Coakley relates Friel's dramatic methods to those of Anton Chekov in order to illuminate the structure and action of Philadelphia, Here I Come!

Probably no recent Irish play of more than passing interest has been so largely ignored by critics as has Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come! A success in Dublin and New York, it enjoyed inclusion in that annual, dreary volume which grants the title of "Best" to scripts some-times, though not always, "Good" or "Better" than most of the commercial theatre's products. But box office returns or fame in the marketplace do not necessarily guarantee recognition in the study, and the play's considerable virtues, both literary and dramatic, have gone unnoticed, perhaps overlooked in the ballyhoo surrounding "the longest running Irish play on...