Support the building of the Brian Friel centre

The Brian Friel Trust was established in 2017 to found a 'Brian Friel Centre', honouring his rich cultural legacy. The vision and plan of the Trust is to establish a centre incorporating 'The Laurels' and 'The Court house' in Glenties, Co. Donegal.

The Laurels was home to Brian Friel's mother and is the setting of his play 'Dancing at Lughnasa'.

Glenties, and the surrounding Donegal landscape, has become immortalised in several of his plays as the fictional village 'Ballybeg'.

The Trust's ongoing vision is to completely restore and renovate The Laurels as the Dancing at Lughnasa House and to establish the main centre in the nearby Court House.

Since 2017, the Trust has sourced the funds to buy The Laurels and has secured the integrity of the building, which had fallen into disrepair, including the roof, windows and outer walls which have now been weatherproofed.

Just down the road from The Laurels is The Court House, which the Trust secured from Donegal County Council earlier this year; this negated the need for a costly new build. Plans for The Court House include a vibrant, dynamic and creative interpretative visitor attraction, containing elements of the Friel archive - displays of photographs, letters, theatrical memorabilia, as well as Brian's reading library and a performance space.

Phase One is now complete at the cost of €110,000. The projected cost of the entire project will be in the region of 5 million euro. We are now ready to begin Phase Two which will cost €50,000 and will provide the vital next step for the completion of the entire project.