Living Quarters reconstructs a day in the life of the Butler family in the village of Ballybeg.
Frank Butler, who has served all his life in the Irish army, returns from United Nations service, a hero, to learn of his young wife’s affair with his son from a previous marriage.
A memory play, Living Quarters foreshadows Aristocrats, one of the author’s masterpieces, with its family of three sisters and a nervous brother. Parallels with Greek tragedy are marked in Friel’s absorbing study of family relationships and the absence of a refuge from destiny.
Year Published: 1992
Details: 96pp
ISBN PBK: 978 1 85235 090 1
ISBN HBK: 978 1 85235 091 8
Living Quarters reconstructs a day in the life of the Butler family in the village of Ballybeg.
Frank Butler, who has served all his life in the Irish army, returns from United Nations service, a hero, to learn of his young wife’s affair with his son from a previous marriage.
A memory play, Living Quarters foreshadows Aristocrats, one of the author’s masterpieces, with its family of three sisters and a nervous brother. Parallels with Greek tragedy are marked in Friel’s absorbing study of family relationships and the absence of a refuge from destiny.