Lantern Theater Company is thrilled to continue its 30th anniversary season with Faith Healer, legendary Irish playwright Brian Friel’s masterpiece play about memory, belief, and the stories we tell to others and to ourselves. Directed by Peter DeLaurier and featuring Anthony Lawton, Ian Merrill Peakes, and Geneviève Perrier, Faith Healer reunites the artistic team from the Lantern’s highly acclaimed digital production of Brian Friel’s Molly Sweeney in 2021. Faith Healer runs Thursday, February 1 through Sunday, March 3, 2024, at St. Stephen’s Theater in Center City Philadelphia.
Faith Healer is a deep dive into the psyche of an inspired performer – but is he really a shaman, an artist, or a con man? Friel’s mesmerizing play comprises four Rashomon-style monologues, with each character sifting through their recollections in an effort to reveal the truth. The play begins and ends with monologues from Frank Hardy (Ian Merrill Peakes), an itinerant faith healer who travels town to town healing – or failing to heal, depending on the night – the wounded and the sick. In one Welsh village, he heals 10 people, earning him a reputation for a gift he knows is not reliable and that he is not sure is even real. Between Frank’s monologues, we hear from his wife Grace (Geneviève Perrier) and his manager Teddy (Anthony Lawton) as they reckon with what it means to be in the orbit of this difficult, magnetic, and perhaps-mystical man. The stories they tell – both to others and to themselves – prove to be but parts of a whole, a complete story that can never be fully known from a single perspective.
“Faith Healer is one of the greatest plays by one of the 20th century’s greatest playwrights,” said Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon. “At times lyrical and at times ironic, the play shines a searchlight deep into the psyches of its three characters as they take us on their journeys through the small towns of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland in a quest to heal the sick. But even the healer himself is never sure if they are dealing in miracles or fraud.”
Brian Friel has often been called the Irish Chekhov and was long recognized as Ireland’s greatest living dramatist until his death in 2015. In addition to Faith Healer and Molly Sweeney, his work includes Dancing at Lughnasa (1991 Olivier Award for Best New Play and 1992 Tony Award for Best Play); Translations; Philadelphia, Here I Come!; Freedom; Wonderful Tennessee; The Home Place; and Lovers, which the Lantern produced during the 2002/03 season. According to theater historian Christopher Murray, Friel’s plays “take the spiritual pulse of the Irish people and find the dramatic form that will render the condition of universal interest.” Faith Healer was Friel’s first use of the three-monologuist format that he would return to with Molly Sweeney – a form that highlights his humane and delicate explorations of identity, history, and memory. Since its first performance in 1979, Faith Healer has been seen on some of the most prestigious stages in the world, including two Broadway productions.
Lantern Theater Company will delve into the world of Faith Healer on its Lantern Searchlight blog, available online at lanterntheater.org/searchlight. Articles will be published throughout the production’s run, exploring the extraordinary work of Brian Friel, the geography and politics of Friel’s Ireland, and charismatic figures as con men in drama, as well as behind the scenes conversations with the artists.
Tickets for Faith Healer are $28 – $45 and are available online at www.lanterntheater.org or by calling the Lantern Box Office at (215) 829-0395. Discounts are available for theatergoers under age 30, seniors 65+, U.S. military personnel, and groups of 10 or more. Performances of Faith Healer will take place at St. Stephen’s Theater, located at 923 Ludlow Street in Center City Philadelphia. Face masks are welcome, but not required.
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