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Dancing at Lughnasa

by Brian Friel

WINNER: Irish Theatre Award for Best Actress - Eleanor Methven

About the play

Set in the turbulent times of 1936, the five unmarried Mundy sisters live in a modest cottage at the heart of a rugged farm outside Ballybeg, a small town in Donegal. The imperious teacher Kate the irreverent big-hearted keeper of the hearth Maggie, the serene familial rudder Agnes, the sweetly eccentric and simple-minded Rose, and the lonely romantic Christina, who has tarnished the family reputation with an illegitimate son; all are heavenly bodies revolving around the 8-year old love child, Michael.

Dancing at Lughnasa is told from his memories, summoning back to the end of that summer, on the eve of celebration to the harvest deity, Lugh, god of music and light. But the celebration of the play . . . the music and the light of it . . . really lives within the sisters, a gift they share with each other and the ones they love. They are a family marked by the unfailing courage they possess for each other. But now it is on the threshold of autumn, where events will conspire to irretrievably change the golden season of the Mundys.

Director

Mairead McGrath

Cast

Michael - Eddie Tighe

Kate - Kate O’Toole

Maggie - Eleanor Methven

Agnes - Morna Regan

Rose - Janet Moran

Chris - Cathleen Bradley

Gerry - Dessie Gallagher

Fr Jack - Jack Quinn

Crew

Set Design – Jack Kirwan
Lighting Designer – Niall Cranney
Costume Designer – Deirdre McGinley Ramsay
Choreographer – Muirne Bloomer
Voice Coach – Brendan Gunn
Accent Continuity – Patricia Logue
Company Manager – Fearga O’Doherty
Stage Manager – Sally McKenna
Tour Technician – Michael Byrne
Set Construction – Guy Barriscale, Jonathan Ball, Domhnais Co
Rehearsal Photos – Andrew Paton
Producer – Patricia McBride

Liz Doherty - Music Arrangement ‘The Mason’s Apron’

Liz Doherty, fiddle, Dave O’Neill, fiddle, Angela McLaughlin, piano, Lawrence Doherty, percussion

Tour dates

An Grianán Theatre
Thurs 24 Oct to Sat 2 Nov 2002

Hawkswell Theatre, Sligo
Mon 4 to Wed 6 Nov 2002

Riverside Theatre, Coleraine
Thurs 7 to Sat 9 Nov 2002

The Burnavon, Cookstown
Mon 11 & Tues 12 Nov 2002

Market Place Theatre, Armagh
Fri 15 & Sat 16 Nov 2002

Cork Opera House
Tues 19 to Sat 23 Nov 2002

The Civic Theatre, Tallaght
Mon 25 to Sat 30 Nov 2002

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