As Seamus Deane writes, ‘the most sterile of illusions is exposed — that of a heroic past that has dwindled to a most unheroic present’. Brian Friel’s farce is brilliantly orchestrated and choreographed. And it is constantly hilarious.

With The Communication Cord Brian Friel does more than maintain his reputation as a master playwright. He establishes himself as one of the most courageous of writers: for this new farce is virtually a send-up of the sentiments so movingly expressed in his own Translations. — David Nowlan, The Irish Times