‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ - Spring 2005

This year, we chose a classic Irish play.

Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator. He recounts the summer in his aunts' cottage when he was seven years old.

Set in the summer of 1936, the play depicts the late summer days when love briefly seems possible for three of the Mundy sisters (Chris, Rose, and Kate) and the family welcomes home the frail elder brother, who has returned from a life as missionary in Africa. However, as the summer ends, the family foresees the sadness and economic privations under which they will suffer as all hopes fade.

The play takes place in early August, around the festival of Lughnasa, in Celtic folklore, the festival of the first fruits, when the harvest is welcomed. It describes a bitter harvest for the Mundy sisters, a time of reaping what has been sown.

The play was directed by Maggie Frame.

Photos from the performance
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