Philadelphia, Here I Come! Themes

In Philadelphia, Here I Come!, a play about Gareth “Gar” O’Donnell’s decision to leave his home in Ireland for the United States, Brian Friel demonstrates the difficultly of trying to convey emotions to loved ones without open communication. A young man in his mid-twenties, Gar wants to leave home largely because of his stilted relationship with his father, S.B. Although they spend the majority of their time together, they’re unable to truly connect…

Brian Friel uses Philadelphia, Here I Come! to examine and even challenge the idea that change inherently leads to happiness. Determined to leave the small Irish town of Ballybeg in which he has spent his entire life, Gar fixates on fulfilling the American dream by moving to Philadelphia. Planning to work at a hotel, he invests himself in the grandiose notion that relocating will bring him money and a higher social status. Moreover, his decision…

In Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Friel draws a stark distinction between a person’s internal and external worlds by splitting the play’s protagonist, Gar, into two separate characters: “Private” Gar and “Public” Gar, each one played by a different actor. Public Gar, the playwright explains, is the Gar who everyone else in the play sees, but Private Gar is “the unseen man, the man within, the conscience, the alter ego, the secret thoughts, the…