Playwright: Brian Friel
At: Festival Theatre, Austin Gardens, Oak Park
Phone: 708-445-4440; $22-$27
Runs through: Aug. 23
Dancing at Lughnasa—by Ireland's greatest living playwright—is an elegy not to a bygone era, but to bygone lives. Through its intentionally golden glow and bittersweet sentiment, one stretches out hand and heart to the stout-hearted Mundy sisters, hoping the next moment will bring them the joy they deserve.
But it's not to be as the narrator, Michael, tell us from the start. The play is his memory, looking back from adulthood to the summer of 1936 when he was seven, living with his mother, her four sisters and their older brother, a priest returned to Ireland after 25 years in Africa. This being a Friel play, the setting is the hay-filled countryside near the fictional rural village of Ballybeg in County Donegal. The Mundys work hard to get by. Oldest sister Kate teaches school, Maggie does the domestic chores, Agnes and Rose knit and sell gloves, and Chris—the unwed beauty—is Michael's mother, still visited yearly by Michael's charming traveling salesman father, Gerry. Each time, he proposes to Chris; each time she says no.
Dancing at Lughnasa ( LUNE-ah-sa ) is a story of character more than incident. The return of Father Jack 'gone native' from Africa, and the acquisition of a second-hand radio, precipitate the play. The pagan ceremonies described by Jack and the 1930s pop music from the wireless easily establish the play's conflict between head and heart, between Apollonian and Dionysian impulses. But that makes this deeply human tale sound far too formally philosophical.
Friel's ability to portray women is astonishing. He uses tea, scones, the small change of village life and commonplace language to weave a truly rich tapestry of hope, regret, desire, dreams and deep family love. It's an ensemble work requiring sharing and nuanced actors and a director of depth. This production has everything it needs, and then some.
Sure and detailed director Belinda Bremner has staged the play with a smile and a tear and a company both earthy and elegant: Brian Simmons ( Michael ) , Mary Mitchell ( Kate ) , Barbara Zahora ( Maggie ) , Martha Murphy ( Agnes, and choreography ) , Lydia Berger ( Rose ) , Jhenai Mootz ( Chris ) , Dennis Grimes ( Gerry ) and understudy Jack Hickey ( Father Jack, for the ill Donald Brearley ) .
The play's title refers to a pagan harvest festival celebrated with bonfires and dancing. The Mundy sisters dream of going once again, but know they will not. Still, when the radio plays an Irish dance tune, they spontaneously explode into joyous dance. The younger sisters dance together, but prim-and-proper Kate reaches out her hands to an imaginary partner, yearning for the lover she will never know. This detail—devised by this production—is as moving, passionate and true as anything I've ever seen onstage. This production is that good, despite the still-challenging outdoor acoustics of lovely Austin Gardens.