Ballybeg, an anglicisation of the Irish language name Baile Beag (IPA: [bˠalˠə bʲɔɡ]) meaning "Little Town", is a fictional town in which Irish playwright Brian Friel set many of his works.[1] Several of Friel's plays, including Philadelphia Here I Come!, Translations and Dancing at Lughnasa, are set in the fictional County Donegal town.[2][3][4] Friel's Ballybeg is partially based on the real village of Glenties, close to where he lived.[5][6]
Brian Friel's Ballybeg - originally known in Gaelic as baile beag or "small town" - has known troubles galore[dead link]
Ireland possesses the universal voice as far as Friel is concerned. He does not look beyond, and forges the steel of human experience in a place called Ballybeg
In the fictional town of Ballybeg in 1833, the British are remapping and renaming every hill and dale with English words, thus declaring ownership of the land while simultaneously treading on national pride
Glenties, in fact, offered [Friel] everything he needed to create an baile beag – Ballybeg
the small Donegal town of Glenties became his spiritual home and inspired the fictional Ballybeg, the setting for 14 of his plays and now as famous in global theatrical history as Chekhov's provincial Russia[permanent dead link]