Dancing at Lughnasa
The Barn Theatre is proud to present a new production of a modern classic, Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa, opening on 6th February.
Following its Dublin debut in 1990, Dancing at Lughnasa became widely regarded as one of Friel's most notable plays, with many revivals in Ireland, the UK, and the USA, and a star-studded film adaptation. Not long after its debut, it featured at the Barn Theatre; this production represents a welcome return for the play to Welwyn Garden City, providing a fresh opportunity to appreciate a stunning piece of work.
Loosely based on the lives of Friel's mother and her sisters, the play is set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, County Donegal. The narrator, Michael Evans, looks back to a particular time in August 1936, shortly before Lughnasa, a Celtic, pagan festival still celebrated then in remote parts of rural Ireland. As the play unfolds, we see the lives of the five Mundy sisters (including Evans's mother, Chris), upended by events that are often out of their control, starting with the return of their ailing brother, Father Jack Mundy, from missionary work in Uganda.
As director Coral Walton emphasises, the play is very much concerned with the workings of memory, using a wide range of theatrical techniques to explore how the act of remembrance itself colours our perception of the past. The script introduces layers of memory, as Michael's narrative captures both his own and his mother and aunts' recollection of key events. Tableaux, slow-motion sequences, music, and dance, all contribute to a fascinating rendering of retrospective consciousness.
The play is also distinctive in the quality of characterisation. Each of the Mundy siblings, as well as Michael's father, Gerry Evans, is a rounded, three-dimensional personage. While the sisters espouse a range of attitudes towards the society, religion, and culture of Ireland in the 1930s, none of them is reducible to a particular position, and all of them retain the ability to surprise us.
Above all, their words are often undercut by their embodied being – sometimes they are drawn into the dance, literally and symbolically, in spite of themselves. Friel sought to show that there are truths in our material existence beyond what we can capture in language. As Michael says in the last line of the play, the sisters are “dancing as if language no longer existed because words were no longer necessary.”
Life could be extremely hard in early 20th-century rural Ireland, and Friel does not shy away from tragedy. At the same time, there is much tenderness in the play and also humour. Father Jack, above all, is an exceptional comic creation. Having “gone native”, he is perpetually introducing traditional Ugandan beliefs and practices into Christian contexts, much to the befuddlement of his family. Yet Jack himself is not at all the butt of the joke; indeed, we gradually discover that his apparent confusion notwithstanding, he has retained a shrewd, empathetic eye for human weakness.
The company for this production includes a cast made up of both new and regular performers at the Barn. They aim to provide a powerfully emotional experience for those who see the play, that will lead them to interrogate their own acts of remembrance. At the same time, it is a joyous piece of work, and the audience should come away happy, with toes tapping to the music.
Dancing at Lughnasa runs at the Barn Theatre from Friday 6th to Saturday 14th Febuary, evenings 8pm, matinee on 14th February, 2.30pm.