Dancing at Lughnasa... "Siobhán McSweeney puts in a star comedic turn and the dancing scene as hinted at in the title is raw, urgent, and fabulous" @NationalTheatre @NationalTheatre @siobhni

Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see a revival of Dancing at Lughnasa, the 1990 memory play by Brian Friel at the Olivier Theatre on London's glitzy South Bank.

 

Set in rural County Donegal in Ulster in August 1936 just outside the fictional town of Ballybeg the action, such that it is, takes place in to the small cottage.

 

It is a play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), the narrator. He recounts the summer in his aunts' cottage when he was seven years old at the time of Lughnasa (the pagan harvest festival.)

 

In the cottage live the five Mundy sisters (Kate, Maggie, Agnes, Rosie, and Christina), all unmarried. The oldest, Kate (Justine Mitchell), is a school teacher, the only one with a well-paid job. Agnes (Louisa Harland) and Rose (Bláithín Mac Gabhann) knit gloves to be sold in town, thereby earning a little extra money for the household. They also help Maggie (Siobhán McSweeney) to keep house. Maggie (Siobhán McSweeney) and Michael's mother Christina (Alison Oliver) have no income at all. Michael is seven years old and plays in and around the cottage.

 

Into this idyll comes Jack (Ardal O'Hanlon) back from Africa and Michael wayward father Gerry (Tom Riley).

 

Directed by Josie Rourke the play is lovely to watch and the women all give great performances. But for my taste it was all too gentle. It is all shamelessly sentimental and lacking in anything but simple sisterly bickering around the kitchen sink. And me, I prefer my kitchen sinks to have a bit more drama surrounding them. 

 

That said, Siobhán McSweeney puts in a star comedic turn and the dancing scene as hinted at in the title is raw, urgent, and fabulous.