DANCING AT LUGHNASA. To 13 November.
Exeter
DANCING AT LUGHNASA
by Brian Friel
Northcott Theatre To 13 November 2004
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 13 Nov 2.30pm
Audio-described 11 Nov
After-show talk: 10 Nov
Runs 2hr 15min One interval
TICKETS: 01392 493493
Review Hazel Brown 28 October 2004
Fine performances hit all the right notes in this wonderful production.
Most of the Northcott's cast have come over from Ireland and give honed performances that deliver every nuance in this finely tuned production of Friel's masterpiece which shows Michael Mundy, now grown up, recalling a two week period in his childhood in Ireland during the harvest of 1936. Paul McGlinchey draws the audience into the story of his family, his unwed mother and her four sisters, with enormous affection and gentle humour.
The Lughnasa of the title is a Celtic festival with pagan roots of which the local dance is the highlight. Friel's family of five sisters all look forward to the possibility of going to the dance, little realising that shortly their lives are to be changed irrevocably.
Life is tough for the sisters and each, in her own way, longs for romance and escape. The eldest, Kate, is played by Sharon Hogan as strait-laced school marm and breadwinner, struggling to keep the family together. Kathy Downes' Agnes knits compulsively to earn extra money and takes care of the simple Rose, played with great innocence and charm by Eva Bartley. Renee Weldon is winsome and caring as the unwed Chrissie, while Helen Norton turns in a fine performance as Maggie, the lumpen farm-working sister with a truly lovely singing voice.
Gregory Floy plays the elder brother, a former missionary priest in Africa who has returned ill and under something of a cloud. The other man, Hywel Simons, Michael's long absent father also comes back into the family's life to disturb the rural idyll.
One scene, when all the sisters let their hair down and dance and shriek with complete abandon, sums up all the pent up female energy within the household. This scene is primal and very moving and rightly earns an ovation of admiration. I applauded through my tears. By the end of the play, a complete way of life has disappeared for ever.
The set, comprised of the isolated small cottage nestling in a hollow, the garden and the long lane which winds behind the cottage, is ingenious and simple, with Matthew Eagland's lighting wonderfully suggesting the world beyond the cornfield.
No one within striking distance of the theatre should miss this wonderful production.
Michael: Paul McGlinchey
Maggie: Helen Norton
Chris: Renee Weldon
Agnes: Kathy Downes
Rose: Eva Bartley
Kate: Sharon Hogan
Father Jack: Gregory Floy
Gerry: Hywel Simons
Director: Ben Crocker
Designer/Costume: Sara Perks
Lighting: Matthew Eagland
Sound: Chris Owen
Choreographer: Paula Crutchlow
2004-11-04 08:23:35