A high quality production which is visually impressive with excellent performances but the pace of the piece is a little slow and static.Rating
Good!
Dancing at Lughnasa is the first production at Sheffield Theatres directed by the new Artistic Director, Elizabeth Newman. The play is set in Donegal in 1936 and tells the story of the five Mundy sisters who live together in the family home in relative poverty. None of them is married, though one, Chris, has a 7-year-old son called Michael. The adult Michael (Kwaku Fortune) is present and is the play’s narrator while also providing the voice for his unseen younger self. This is a clever device which works well to give the audience insight into the sisters and what subsequently happens to them.
The set and costumes are beautiful. Designer Francis O’Connor has created the sisters’ rustic house with old wooden furniture, a kitchen area, an outside area with hanging washing, scabby grass and haystacks. It’s perfectly designed for the Crucible’s thrust stage and invites the audience into the Mundys’ lives in a way a traditional proscenium stage couldn’t match. The lighting also adds to the effect, especially on occasions when the sisters are paused in time as Michael narrates.
Older brother Father Jack (Frank Laverty) has been away in Africa as a missionary for 25 years, and this provides some welcome status for the sisters, especially schoolteacher Kate (played convincingly by Natalie Radmall-Quirke), who is a devout Catholic and very conscious of her position in society. Duty is one of the main themes of the play – each of the sisters is constrained in their own way by what is expected of them, and there is conflict as they struggle to comply.
There are moments of freedom, though, notably signalled by the radio, which randomly turns itself on and off. When it plays, the atmosphere in the Mundy house relaxes and, at one point, all five sisters dance with energetic and sudden fierce joy; squealing, throwing flour, dancing on the table, all cares forgotten. When the radio suddenly stops, so do they, looking shocked and wondering what just happened to them. This scene is such a contrast to the rest of the play. The radio is a metaphor for freedom, and it’s fleeting. One of the sisters even says it’s possessed. The production is high quality and beautifully acted by everyone, but the pace is slow with little action. This frenetic dance scene is a welcome contrast and leaves the audience wanting more.
When Father Jack returns from Africa, it is clear that he has gone native and lost his Catholic faith. This signals the beginning of the end as Kate loses her teaching position and the family begins to disintegrate. Michael’s father, Gerry (Marcus Rutherford), appears intermittently and woos his mother, Chris (Martha Dunlea), but he is unreliable, and it transpires he has another family elsewhere. The men can come and go with a freedom that the women don’t have. It’s notable that the radio will play when Gerry wants to dance.
Writer Brian Friel has written other plays inspired by Chekhov and Ibsen, and there is clear evidence in Dancing at Lughnasa that he was influenced by both. The focus is on character, language, motivation and relationships rather than narrative action. Even when there is plot development, such as two of the sisters leaving, this is revealed in narration from Michael rather than acted out. This is a well-written, well-produced piece with excellent performances, but the audience spends a lot of time waiting for something to happen.
Written by Brian Friel
Directed by Elizabeth Newman
Set & Costumes Design by Francis O’Connor
Movement Directed by Sundeep Saini
Lighting Design by Chris Davey
Music Composition & Sound Design by Pippa Murphy
Fight Directed by Kaitlin Howard
Dancing at Lughnasa plays at The Crucible until Saturday October 4 before transferring to
The Royal Exchange, Manchester.
