.gif)
Faith Healer is a play byBrian Friel about the life of thefaith healer Francis Hardy as monologued through the shifting memories of Hardy, his wife, Grace, and stage manager, Teddy. It was first produced in 1979.
The play was voted as one of the 100 most significant plays of the 20th century in a poll conducted byRoyal National Theatre[1][2] and has been named byThe Independent as one of the "40 best plays of all time".[3]
The play consists of four parts, with amonologue making up each part. The monologues are given, in order, by Hardy himself; his wife, Grace; his manager, Teddy, and finally Hardy again.[4]
The monologues tell the story of Hardy, including an incident in aWelsh village in which he cures ten people. Teddy's monologue reveals that Grace dies by suicide, while Hardy ponders whether his gift is real or not. In Hardy’s second monologue, it is suggested that he is beaten to death for his failure to heal a cripple. He says that he knows he will not be able to heal him and, going to face death, he feels a sense of homecoming. From Teddy’s preceding monologue it is made explicit however, that Hardy is actually killed.
Faith Healer received its first performance on 23 February 1979 inBoston in a production directed byJosé Quintero and starringJames Mason,Clarissa Kaye, andDonal Donnelly. The production then opened inNew York City at theLongacre Theatre onBroadway[5] and closed after twenty performances.[6][7] The first production in Ireland was at theAbbey Theatre in August 1980, in a production byJoe Dowling starringDonal McCann, Kate Flynn and John Kavanagh.[8] The first London production was at theRoyal Court Theatre in March 1981, directed by Christopher Fettes, withPatrick Magee,Helen Mirren andStephen Lewis.
BBC Radio produced the play withNorman Rodway as Frank,June Tobin as Gracie andWarren Mitchell as Teddy. It was produced by Robert Cooper and broadcast on Radio 3 on 13 March 1980, with a repeat on 18 May 1980.
It was revived in 1983 at theVineyard Theatre, directed byDann Florek, withJ. T. Walsh,Kathleen Chalfant and Martin Shakar.[9] In the same year,William Needles played the title role at the University of California, Irvine. Also in the cast were Mary Anne McGarry andKeith Fowler. The show was revived under the direction ofRobert Cohen for a gala presentation to the UCI Theater Guild.
Joe Dowling returned to the play in 1992 at theRoyal Court Theatre, London, his production again starring Donal McCann, joined bySinéad Cusack andRon Cook to huge acclaim. The critic Sarah Compton remarked that it was "a version so potent that I can look back on it now in vivid, overwhelming detail". Two years later, the production opened at theLong Wharf Theatre, with McCann and Cook. Cusack was sadly unavailable andJudy Geeson took over.The New York Times called the production "incandescent" and recommended it to "any connoisseur of theater".[1][10]
It was revived in London in 2001 by theAlmeida Theatre, in a production byJonathan Kent. The cast consisted ofKen Stott,Geraldine James andIan McDiarmid. McDiarmid won the 2001Critics' Circle Best Actor Award for this role.[11]
Jonathan Kent revived the play again for theGate Theatre inDublin early in 2006, this time withRalph Fiennes, Ingrid Craigie and Ian McDiarmid.[12] This production opened on Broadway at theBooth Theatre on 4 May 2006, withCherry Jones as Grace. On Broadway it received fourTony Award nominations and won theBest Featured Actor in a Play, Ian McDiarmid.[13]
The Gate Theatre revived the play again in 2009, presenting the play at theSydney Festival as part of a trio of works being performed to honour the 80th birthday of Friel.[14] The other works wereThe Yalta Game andAfterplay. This production played at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in January 2010. In 2009, it was also staged by Eric Hill at the Unicorn Theatre as part of theBerkshire Theatre Festival inStockbridge, Massachusetts, with Colin Lane, Kiera Naughton and David Atkins to unanimous acclaim.
In October 2009, Joe Dowling directed the play yet again at theGuthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This time Dowling also took on the lead role of Frank Hardy himself.[15]
In February 2011, it was staged at Bristol Old Vic under the direction of associate directorSimon Godwin.[16]
In June 2016, the play was revived at theDonmar Warehouse by director Lyndsey Turner, with the cast ofStephen Dillane,Gina McKee andRon Cook, to exceptional reviews.[17]
On 22 October 2016, the play opened atBelvoir St Theatre inSydney, Australia. Directed byJudy Davis with the cast ofColin Friels as Frank,Alison Whyte as Grace, andPip Miller as Teddy.[18] The production was co-presented byBelvoir and theState Theatre Company of South Australia at theSpace Theatre inAdelaide in September to October 2018. This time Teddy's role was played byPaul Blackwell,[19] who was posthumously awarded aHelpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for his performance.[20][21]
AnAbbey Theatre production, directed by Joe Dowling and designed byJohn Lee Beatty, and starringAidan Gillen as Frank Hardy,Niamh Cusack as Grace andNigel Lindsay as Teddy, had been planned for early 2020 but was postponed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[22] However, theOld Vic Theatre livestreamed a five-performance production featuringMichael Sheen as Frank Hardy, withDavid Threlfall andIndira Varma, in September 2020.[23] TheAbbey Theatre production was rescheduled for November 2020 and still starring Gillen, Cusack and Lindsay, with Cusack and Lindsay receivingIrish Times Theatre Awards nominations.[24]
In 2023 London Classic Theatre launched a UK tour of the play, directed by Michael Cabot. The production starred Paul Carroll as Frank Hardy,Gina Costigan as Grace, and Jonathan Ashleyas Teddy.[25] Select tour venues included New Vic Theatre, Theatr Clwyd, Malvern Theatres, The Lighthouse,Theatre Royal,Cambridge Arts Theatre,Hawk's Well Theatre,Millennium Forum, Middlesbrough Theatre,Lichfield Garrick Theatre,Devonshire Park Theatre, andConnaught Theatre.[26]
In 2024 the play had its premiere in Vienna, Austria, in anOpen House Theatre production, starringAlan Burgon as Frank Hardy, Anne Marie Sheridan as Grace and Brian Hatfield as Teddy. It was directed by Owen Lindsay.[27][28]
A new production at The Lyric Hammersmith in London, directed by Rachel O’Riordan, ran from March-April 2024. Frank was played by Declan Conlon, Grace by Justine Mitchell, and Teddy by Nick Holder.[29]
In January 2025, the play was staged for six performances at the King's Arms in Salford. FormerBolton Octagon Artistic Director,David Thacker directed the play, withColin Connor playing Frank,Vicky Binns portraying Grace andRupert Hill as Teddy.
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Critics’ Circle Theatre Award[30] | Best Actor | Stephen Dillane | Won |