Philadelphia, Here I Come: A Play

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When Gar asks his young friend Joe why he doesn't come to America also, Joe says this. He tells him that he has made a promise to his mother that he will stay at home for awhile. This contrasts with Gar's experience, as Gar has no mother to urge him to stay home with his family. A devout Catholic would have had a daily routine that involved practicing their faith in some of the following ways: Participation in Parish Life – people often volunteered for various roles and participated in social events organised by the Church.

Essentially, this play is a tragicomedy. It contains many comical scenes, especially the scene with Lizzy Sweeney, Gar's aunt, in which Gar decides to go to America. Despite the fact that Gar seems to have a relationship with his father no different from that of Boss and Employee, there are indications that there is love between them. In episode 1, Madge says "It must have been near daybreak when he (SB O'Donnell) got to sleep last night. I could hear the bed creaking." Other indications that SB is secretly devastated by his son's imminent departure, include his remembrance of Gar in a sailor suit proudly declaring he need not go to school, he'll work in his father's shop – a memory of an event that may not have happened, and the scene when he pretends to read the paper, but fails to notice that it has been upside-down.Following Church Teachings – Catholics followed Church teachings on issues such as birth control, divorce, and sexual morality. This often meant adhering to strict moral codes that were enforced by the Church.

It is the interaction between Paul Reid's public and Rory Keenan's private Gar that gives the play its dynamic. Both are first-rate – but Ireland's tragedy, Friel implies, lies in the inability to own up to emotion. You see this most poignantly in the relationship between Gar and his widowed da, played impeccably by James Hayes as a silent, sombre, watch-chained figure encased in the rituals of small-town life. What's moving is that neither Gar nor his father can express their love for each other. There's a revealing moment when the housekeeper says of the old man that "just because he doesn't say much doesn't mean that he hasn't feelings like the rest of us"; the Irish lilt means that, to an English ear, "feelings" sounds extraordinarily like "failings".And when you think of a bugger like that, you want to get down on your knees and thank God for aul Screwballs" Private between us at that moment there was this great happiness, this great joy—you must have felt it too—it was so much richer than a content—it was a great, great happiness, and active, bubbling joy—although nothing was being said—just the two of us fishing on a lake on a showery day—and young as I was I felt, I knew, that this was precious, and your hat was soft on the top of my ears—I can feel it—and I shrank down into your coat—and then, then for no reason at all except that you were happy too, you began to sing..." Private While saying prayers with S.B. and Madge, Gar has a fond memory of fishing in a boat with his father as a child. He tries to ask S.B. about it, but they get interrupted by the arrival of Canon, one of S.B.'s friends.

election results in Eamon De Valera taking charge and the creation of Eire, a sovereign democracy independent from Britain.

a b Richards, Stanley (1970). "Philadelphia, Here I Come!". Best Plays of the Sixties. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. pp.329–333. LCCN 73-97684.