Fed up with the dreary round of life in Ballybeg, with his
uncommunicative father and his humiliating job in his father's grocery
shop, with his frustrated love for Kathy Doogan who married a richer,
more successful young man and with the total absence of prospect and
opportunity in his life at home, Gareth O'Donnell has accepted his
aunt's invitation to come to Philadelphia. Now, on the eve of his
departure, he is not happy to be leaving Ballybeg.
With this play Brian Friel made his reputation and it is now an
acknowledged classic of modern drama.