Brian Friel: Ireland's great theatrical explorer
Friel, whose death has been announced, was never a writer to be pigeonholed. He leaves a vast variety of personal and political plays, as well as beautiful translationsBrian Friel, who has died aged 86, was the finest Irish dramatist of his generation. His work covered a wide variety of themes: exile and emigration, the political troubles of Northern Ireland, the subjective nature of memory. But Friel's diverse outpu…