Dancing at Lughnasa is a multi-award-winning play and film by Irish playwright Brian Friel, set in County Donegal, Ireland, in August 1936. It centres on the struggles of the five Mundy sisters living in an isolated cottage in the fictional town of Ballybeg. This production is directed by Elizabeth Newman and boasts an impressive cast with an acclaimed CV.
The stage set perfectly communicated a remote, sparsely decorated cottage within the harshly beautiful backdrop of rural Ireland. A smoking stove, a temperamental Marconi wireless radio and the moon appeared to be the only moving parts in this forgotten corner of the Emerald Isle. The costume design was equally on point.
It was presented as a memory play by Christine Mundy’s illegitimate son, Michael Evans, played effortlessly by Kwaku Fortune. The grown-up Michael retrospectively narrated the events in his childhood home from the summer of 1936. The rolling narrative appeared at key moments and was vital to progress and to explain the evolving storyline. The narrative was also Michael’s opportunity to interpret the events of his childhood and the influence his upbringing had on his life.
This dialogue heavy and character-led play asked a lot of the actors. Martha Dunlea, Laura Pyper and Natalie Radmall-Quirke deliver performances of fortitude playing characters of adversity, Christina, Agnes and Kate, respectively. Rachel O’Connell and Marcus Rutherford excel at playing the delightfully flawed Rose and Gerry.
Siobhán O'Kelly’s performance as the effervescent Margaret was superb. O’Kelly’s portrayal of the most vivacious of the sisters raised questions over the sanity of the men of Ballybeg for allowing her to remain on the shelf.
The acclaimed Frank Laverty, whose roll call includes Irish classic ‘Michael Collins’ and ‘Angela's Ashes’, portrayed older brother Father Jack with great aplomb. Father Jack’s many years outside of the small town, a significant period of which was spent on a leper colony in Africa, had turned him irreverent to the traditions and beliefs held deeply by the matriarchal Kate. This was a key relationship in which the juxtaposition of traditional values such as religion and monogamy was questioned.
Dancing at Lughnasa is a well written but slowly paced documented snapshot of the harsh realities of life in rural Ireland in the 1930s and is influenced by Friel’s own life. There is a sense of hopelessness at being unable to stop the world from changing before your eyes, whilst, at the same time, questioning whether the things held so dear are actually worth holding onto. A question as relevant today as it was for the sisters.
Production run: Saturday 13 September – Saturday 4 October 2025
https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/dancing-at-lughnasa/dates
Reviewer - Matt Burgin
On - 19/9/2025
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