Welcome to Philadelphia, Here I Come! by Brian Friel
Welcome to your comprehensive study guide for Brian Friel's masterpiece, Philadelphia, Here I Come!. This play is a core set text for CCEA GCSE English Literature (Unit 2: Section A Drama).
Don't worry if reading drama scripts feels unusual at first! Plays are meant to be seen and heard on a stage, not just read off a page. Once you understand Friel's unique theatrical tricks—especially having two actors play the same character—you will see how funny, moving, and brilliantly crafted this play really is.
What You Need to Know for the Exam:
• Paper: Unit 2: Section A (Drama).
• Assessment Focus: AO1 (Knowledge, interpretation, and well-chosen quotes) and AO2 (Analysing language, dramatic structure, staging, and form).
• Exam Format: Open-book exam! You can bring an unannotated copy of the play into the exam hall.
• Crucial Tip: In Section A, you are not marked on historical context (AO4). Focus your energy purely on Friel's dramatic techniques, staging, characterisation, and themes!
1. Setting the Scene: Ballybeg & Staging
The play is set in the fictional rural village of Ballybeg (derived from the Irish Baile Beag, meaning "small town") in County Donegal, Ireland, during the early 1960s.
The Timeframe
The entire dramatic action unfolds over roughly twelve hours: the evening before Gareth (Gar) O'Donnell leaves for Philadelphia, USA, and the early morning of his departure.
The Structure: Three Episodes
Instead of traditional "Acts", Brian Friel divides the play into Three Episodes:
• Episode I: The evening before departure (Gar returning from the shop, packing, interacting with Madge and S.B., remembering Kate).
• Episode II: Later that night (visits from Master Boyle, the local "Boys", Kate Doogan, and the draughts match with the Canon).
• Episode III: The late night into the early morning of departure (the confrontation over memories, quiet goodbyes, and lingering doubt).
The Set Design: Simultaneous Staging
Friel uses a simultaneous set, meaning the audience sees multiple locations on stage at the exact same time without scene changes:
• Upstage Left (The Kitchen): The social, domestic space where Gar interacts awkwardly with his father, S.B., and the housekeeper, Madge.
• Upstage Right (Gar's Bedroom): Gar's private sanctuary where he packs his suitcase, plays records, and speaks freely with his inner self.
• Downstage (The Neutral Area): An open front space used for memory scenes and flashbacks (such as Aunt Lizzy's visit, Kate Doogan's house, and the shop).
Key Takeaway: The physical separation between the kitchen (silence, social duty) and the bedroom (freedom, music, internal thoughts) visibly dramatises Gar's split state of mind.
2. The Core Dramatic Convention: Public and Private Gar
The most famous and inventive technique in the play is the Split Protagonist. Gareth O'Donnell is played by two separate actors simultaneously.
Public Gar
• Who he is: The outer Gareth that everyone in Ballybeg sees and hears.
• Key traits: Awkward, polite, emotionally suppressed, tongue-tied, and timid.
• His struggle: He cannot bring himself to say what he truly feels to his father or Kate.
Private Gar
• Who he is: The "unseen and unheard soul"—Gareth's internal consciousness, alter-ego, and inner thoughts.
• Key traits: Cynical, hilarious, sarcastic, energetic, angry, and deeply vulnerable.
• Crucial Rule: Private is visible and audible only to Public Gar and the theatre audience. The other characters on stage cannot see or hear him!
Why did Friel use this technique?
Think of Private Gar like that fast-talking, unfiltered voice inside your own head. When someone asks you an awkward question, you might give a polite, one-word reply (Public), while your brain is screaming, joking, or panicking (Private). Friel puts that exact human experience directly onto the stage to highlight the tragic failure of communication in human relationships.
Top Exam Pitfall to Avoid: Never write that Private Gar is a "ghost", "imaginary friend", or a "second person living in the house". Always refer to them as two dimensions of the same single identity.
3. Character Profiles
Gareth (Gar) O'Donnell
A 25-year-old shop assistant in his father's general store. He feels trapped by Ballybeg's economic stagnation and his father's silence, yet he is terrified of leaving the only home he has ever known.
S.B. O'Donnell ("Screwballs")
Gar's elderly, widowed father. He is a routine-bound county councillor and general merchant. S.B. wears a strict emotional mask, retreating into predictable habits (reciting the weather, taking off his boots at the exact same minute, checking shop ledgers). Although Private mocks him relentlessly, S.B. deeply loves Gar but lacks the emotional language to show it.
Madge
The aging, arthritic housekeeper who has looked after the O'Donnell home since Gar's mother died shortly after childbirth. She serves as a surrogate mother figure. Madge understands both father and son better than they understand themselves, acting as the practical emotional bridge between them.
Kate Doogan
Gar's former sweetheart and the daughter of Senator Doogan. Gar desperately wanted to marry her, but his financial insecurity and social awkwardness stopped him from asking her father for permission. She is now married to Dr Francis King, leaving Gar heartbroken and bitter.
Aunt Lizzy (Elisabeth Sweeney) & Uncle Con
Gar's emigrant aunt and uncle from Philadelphia. Aunt Lizzy is loud, dramatic, talkative, and emotional—the exact opposite of the silent Ballybeg folk. Her visit months earlier, shown in Episode II through a flashback, gave Gar the opportunity to emigrate to America.
The "Boys" (Ned, Tom, Joe)
Gar's local peer group. When they visit in Episode II, they boast endlessly about girls, fights, and drinking. However, their swagger is a mask to hide their dead-end lives and sadness that Gar is escaping. When Ned awkwardly hands Gar his belt as a parting gift, the crack in their macho exterior is revealed.
Canon Mick O'Byrne
The local parish priest who visits every evening to play draughts with S.B.. He represents the complacency and spiritual sterility of Ballybeg. Instead of offering pastoral comfort to a father losing his only son, he is obsessed with winning the board game and chatting trivially.
Master Boyle
Gar's old schoolmaster. A cultured, intellectual man whose potential was destroyed by alcoholism and small-town stagnation. He gives Gar a genuine blessing to leave Ballybeg before the village traps him forever.
Key Takeaway: Every character in Ballybeg reflects something about Gar's past, present, or potential future. Master Boyle shows what Gar could become if he stays; Aunt Lizzy shows what Irish emigrants become when they leave.
4. Major Themes
A. Communication and Inarticulacy (Emotional Silence)
The central tragedy of the play is that Gar and his father cannot express their love for one another. They speak only in stock phrases: checking cash drawers, reciting the price of goods, and predicting rain. Friel exposes the toxic emotional repression of rural Irish masculinity ("To hell with all the strong, silent men!").
B. Emigration, Exile, and Identity
Is emigration a glorious escape or a painful exile? Philadelphia offers modern high-rise living, higher wages, and freedom. But Ballybeg represents roots, history, and belonging. Throughout the play, Gar bounces between excitement for the glamorous USA and paralyzing sorrow at abandoning his home.
C. Memory vs. Reality (The Blue Boat on Lough na Trona)
Gar clings to a precious childhood memory of sitting in a blue fishing boat on Lough na Trona with his father on a sunny afternoon, singing The Moon Behind the Hill. In Episode III, Gar finally gathers the courage to ask S.B. if he remembers it. S.B. says he does not recall it, shattering Gar's emotional anchor. Yet, moments later, S.B. reveals to Madge that he vividly remembers Gar as a boy in a sailor suit. Both men remember their connection, but neither can share the memory at the right time.
5. Drama Terminology & Exam Technique
To score top marks in AO2, you must write about the text as a play in performance. Use strong dramatic terminology in your essays:
• Dramatic Irony: The audience knows Private Gar's thoughts, but S.B. and other characters do not.
• Stage Directions: Notice Friel's instructions for lighting (bright light downstage during flashbacks) and sound (the blasting music from Gar's record player, the ticking of the kitchen clock).
• Monologue & Soliloquy: Private Gar's rapid-fire speeches reveal his innermost psychological distress.
• Contrast / Juxtaposition: Placing the boisterous, noisy Boys right before the solemn, silent draughts game with the Canon emphasizes Gar's isolation.
Sample Sentence Frames for High-Scoring Essays:
• "Through the dramatic device of Private Gar, Friel exposes the acute psychological tension between Gareth's external compliance and internal turmoil..."
• "Friel's simultaneous set physically embodies the emotional gulf separating father and son, keeping them trapped in separate theatrical spaces..."
• "The failure of S.B. to recall the blue boat on Lough na Trona serves as a poignant dramatic symbol of their irreconcilable inarticulacy..."
Quick Review Checklist before the Exam:
1. Did I refer to it as a play, audience, and playwright (never book, reader, or author)?
2. Did I analyse how Public and Private work together?
3. Did I link character dialogue to Friel's staging and sound effects?
4. Did I focus my response strictly on AO1 (Textual detail) and AO2 (Dramatic methods)?