Translations, Brian Friel's lyrical drama set in a fictional Donegal town in the year 1833, is the next rep play at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. The play opens March 27 and will run on Mon.-Wed. nights through April 26. Flora Plumb directs.

Friel has set his story in an Irish hedge-school whose students, both young and old, face sudden change when a regiment of Royal Engineers arrives, charged with recording all local Gaelic names and rendering them into English. Friel questions how a culture can survive the loss of its native tongue.

Other Friel plays include Molly Sweeney, Give Me Your Answer Do! and Dancing at Lughnasa.

Theatre 40, which is still battling the Beverly Hills city council to keep its theatre lease in Beverly Hills high school, is located at 241 Moreno Drive. For tickets and information call (323) 936-5842.

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent