Best Photos of the Day

Material about Brian Friel on display at St. Connell's Museum includes news clippings of his funeral and old show posters, in the western Irish town of Glenties, where Friel's mother was born, Oct. 18, 2023. Irish Repertory Theater's season-long survey of the playwright's work prompted a reporter to seek out the Irish town that inspired the imaginary site of so many of his plays. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

Michael, who now lives in Australia, outside Roddy's Bar as he visits family in the western Irish town of Glenties, Oct. 19, 2023. Irish Repertory Theater's season-long survey of Brian Friel's work prompted a reporter to seek out the Irish town that inspired the imaginary site of so many of his plays. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

A view of Main Street, which is pocked with vacant storefronts, in the western Irish town of Glenties, where Brian Friel's mother was born, Oct. 18, 2023. Irish Repertory Theater's season-long survey of the playwright's work prompted a reporter to seek out the Irish town that inspired the imaginary site of so many of his plays. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

Phillip Rodgers, owner of Roddy's Bar, shares a drink with his patrons in the western Irish town of Glenties, where Brian Friel's mother was born, Oct. 19, 2023. Irish Repertory Theater's season-long survey of the playwright's work prompted a reporter to seek out the Irish town that inspired the imaginary site of so many of his plays. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

A local resident sells bread at a weekly street market in the western Irish town of Glenties, where Brian Friel's mother was born, Oct. 19, 2023. Irish Repertory Theater's season-long survey of the playwright's work prompted a reporter to seek out the Irish town that inspired the imaginary site of so many of his plays. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

The island of Inisheel is seen in the distance from Narin/Portnoo Beach near the western Irish town of Glenties, where Brian Friel's mother was born, Oct. 19, 2023. A sandbar that is exposed during low tide connects Narin/Portnoo Beach and Inishkeel. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

The hills and mountains surrounding the western Irish town of Glenties, where Brian Friel's mother was born, Oct. 19, 2023. The family home was not far from where the railway station used to be, where Friel's grandfather was the station master. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

The grave of the Irish playwright Brian Friel overlooks the western Irish town of Glenties, where Friel's mother was born, Oct. 19, 2023. Irish Repertory Theater's season-long survey of the playwright's work prompted a reporter to seek out the Irish town that inspired the imaginary site of so many of his plays. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

A 20th-century monument to the dead buried in the town's famine graveyard beginning in 1846, in Glenties, Ireland, Oct. 19, 2023. That's the year after the failure of potato crops started the Great Famine. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)

The hills and mountains surrounding the western Irish town of Glenties, where Brian Friel's mother was born, Oct. 19, 2023. Irish Repertory Theater's season-long survey of the playwright's work prompted a reporter to seek out the Irish town that inspired the imaginary site of so many of his plays. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)