Dancing at Lughnasa

Synopsis

An award winning and moving Irish drama set in the closing days of the long hot summer of 1936. A tender portrait of a family of five strong, single women whose lives are revitalised by the breathtaking music and dancing of their Donegal home. 1990 Laurence Olivier Award and Broadway Award for Best New Play. (Lughnasa is pronounced Loo-na-sa)

Our Review:

Simon Cole - 27 January 2011

Lughnasadh, the Celtic harvest festival held on the first of August each year, takes its name from the Irish god Lugh, and the sharp contrast between pagan ritual and devout Catholicism is a constant theme that runs through Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel.

First performed in Dublin in 1990, the play is a semi-autobiographical account of the life of Michael Evans, a young boy being brought up by his mother and four spinster aunts in the foothills of Donegal. Adult Michael (played by Alastair Whatley, who also directs and produces the piece) acts as narrator, and it is his memories of one tumultuous summer in 1936, when their seemingly cosy existence was to be changed for ever, that are played out on the stage.

The Mundy sisters (Kate, Maggie, Agnes, Rosie, and Christina) are all unmarried and live together in a cottage outside Ballybeg. The oldest, Kate (Victoria Carling), is a school teacher, the principal bread-winner and spiritual head of the family. Agn...

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Latest User Review

Peter - 29 January 2011:

Wonderful production. A quality piece of theatre...

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