JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS, cilt.11, sa.3, ss.25-32, 2024 (Hakemli Dergi)
The aim of this article is to trace Brian Friel’s ironical views of love and marriage in his play, Lovers (1967), with emphasis on the supra-realistic techniques that he manipulates in his play. Love among family members is a recurrent theme in most of Friel’s plays. However, it is only in Lovers that Friel’s talent of humor, irony and satire demonstrates itself in handling the theme of romantic love. The study focuses on Friel’s innovative use of retrospective time techniques and his manipulation of some devices borrowed from Berthold Brecht’s epic theatre, Samuel Beckett’s absurd theatre, and expressionism to express his satirical views on the Irish society where familial and religious authority may devastate romantic love.