Lovers

Play

Writers: Brian Friel

Overview

Show Information

Category
Play
Number of Acts
2
First Produced
1967
Genres
Drama
Settings
Multiple Settings
Time & Place
the present (1967) in ireland
Cast Size
medium
Orchestra Size
None
Dancing
None
Ideal for
professional theatre, university / college theatre, community theatre, amateur theatre
Casting Notes
Mostly female cast
Includes adult, late teen, young adult, mature adult, elderly characters

Synopsis

Lovers consists of two parts: Winners and Losers. In Winners, two commentators speak without emotion about the life and death of young Mag and Joe, who are destined to be married in three weeks due to Mag’s pregnancy. The two young people are bursting with life, enthusiasm, and hope. Mag and Joe truly care for each other, and though their youth often leads to heated arguments, they soon dissipate through vows of love and carefree joking. Their youthful passion, however, threatens to overwhelm them and cut short their futures.

Losers, on the other hand, tells the story of an older couple, Andy and Hanna, who are trapped in Hanna’s home by her invalid mother, Mrs. Wilson, who demands every moment of Hanna’s time. Before Andy and Hanna are married, Mrs. Wilson rings for Hanna whenever there is silence downstairs. After their marriage, she rings for her daughter whenever they speak, thereby effectively ruining the couple’s relationship before it begins and after it has commenced.

Winners and Losers, in very different ways, both address love, what it means, and the choices we make when we fall deeply, desperately, into it.

Lead Characters


Lovers guide sections