Dancing at Lughnasa: A Beautiful Lyrical Memory

Original Article

by Johanna Schoenfeld

It's a warm August day in 1936 in the small village of Ballybeg in Ireland – the time of the festival of Lughnasa, an ancient tradition full of bonfires and dancing. But the Mundy family is not going to attend the festivities: They are five unmarried sisters and a young boy, and they hardly get by, much less have time, or reason, for celebration. Recently, their uncle has returned from missionary work in Africa, and he is hardly recognizable. The world is a place where tradition gives way to modernity – how long will they be able to resist the change that is coming?

“Dancing at Lughnasa” by Brian Friel is a lyrical memory, told from the point of view of the boy, Michael, who looks back at this summer he remembers so distinctly. It premiered last Thursday at the Gershwin Theater at Brooklyn College – a show that culminated in a standing ovation. The play, on the other hand, is strangely void of climaxes. “Dancing at Lughnasa,” which runs for two and a half hours with a ten-minute intermission, is almost more of a character study, or presentation of the ordinary life of this unusual family, than a story of action or, for that matter, plot. But, of course, its intention lies elsewhere. As adult Michael says in his ending monologue about his memories of the summer of 1936: “In that memory atmosphere is more real than incident.” Even so, some scenes feel endless and could have used editing.

And precisely because of this lack of excitement in terms of story, the show heavily depends on music, lighting, set design and, most of all, the actors' performances. It would almost be more succinct, however, to say the actresses' performances – because this play belongs to the female performers playing the five sisters. Even though the story is framed by Michael's narration, it is them who – literally and figuratively – take center stage. There is Kate, the schoolteacher and only one of the five to work outside the home; Maggie, full of life and joy, but also unwaveringly loyal to her sisters; Agnes and Rose, who knit gloves for a living and dream of a better life; and Chris, Michael's mother, who has curiously little interaction with her son who was born “out of wedlock.”

With superb performances by the entire cast, two actresses stood out: Cassidy Elms played Kate, the quasi head of the household, and, by her own admission, a “bitch.” She is an old-school traditionalist whose strategies to hold her family together slowly start failing, and she reacts to it with pressure on her sisters. She doesn't seem to have a joy for life, and yet, at times, you get a glimpse of the fact that this is only because she wants to protect her family. Elms portrayed this unconventional matriarch's longing for order with an extraordinary sensibility.

Mary Ann Walsh not only supplied the comic relief of the piece, but also delivered the most layered performance of the evening. Her Maggie certainly has the best one-liners and the laughs on her side. But, once again, there's more to her than meets the eye. She and her loved ones live dull and somewhat monotonous lives – and she is the one to spice it up for them. She is the one who animates them to dance to their new wireless radio and enjoy life. And she is also the one who turns into an aggressive wolf-mother protecting her young when one of her sisters is attacked.

Dance is weaved through the story like a thread and ties the story together. In the midst of a bleak existence, it is was gives the characters a silver lining; it is the purest expression of joy. It is also what adult Michael remembers the clearest. He closes the play with this sentiment, while everybody around him sways in a trance-like state to the beautiful music enveloping them: “What is so strange about that memory is that everybody seems to be floating on those sweet sounds... When I remember it, I think of it as dancing... Dancing as if language no longer existed because words were no longer necessary...”

Future Showings of “Dancing at Lughnasa” at Gershwin Theater:
Fri 11/19 and Sat 11/20 at 7:30 PM
Sat 11/20 and Sun 11/21 at 2:00 PM