Abstract:
This paper reads Friel's 1982 play 'The Communication Cord' as a re-translation of the translation strategies that were performed in his earlier play 'Translations'. In taking these out of the colonial context of 'Translations' and re-performing them in the post-colonial setting of 'The Communication Cord', Friel points to the fact that a similar form of linguistic hegemony operates in post-colonial Ireland and that this creates a quandary that must be recognised and negotiated by the post-colonial.