DANCING AT LUGHNASA. To 5 April.

Dundee

DANCING AT LUGHNASA
by Brian Friel

Dundee Rep Theatre To 5 April 2003
Tue-Sat 7.45pm
Runs 2hr 30min One interval

TICKETS: 01382 223530
Review: Timothy Ramsden 29 March

New Dundee co-supremo Dominic Hill's calling-card production is an understanding, finely-acted revival of this moving, yet never sentimental drama.So, Chekhov's three sisters thought themselves exiled in their small town far from Moscow, did they? How about Friel's five sisters on the edge of little Ballybeg (playwright Brian Friel's regular theatre home-from-home)? Here they are for ever - Dundee's strong revival indicates the play's a classic as much as the Chekhov -remembered in 1936 through the memories of brother Michael, looking back on their lives around his seven year old self.

From strict senior Kate to naive-minded Rose, through Chris - whose illegitimate son Michael's the son, too, of wild-enterprised opportunist Welshman Gerry Evans - these sisters experience the slow shudder of change.It's distanced, just as Friel has the older Michael (Alexander West, plain in his memories to near blandness at times) invisible to the womenfolk, who talk to the unseen (by us) child Michael.

Distanced by the seemingly unchanging farm - stone-solid and apparently perpetual in its hard routines - which briefly becomes a surprising home to the revived spirit of the ancient festival of harvest god Lu, as the Mundy sisters' arid life takes a sudden Bacchic swing, repressed energies footing it in response to dance music on the new invention, wireless. Hill might have extended the dance to all five, not just four, sisters, but the sustained moment remains magical, especially as the severe Kate takes off to dance the farmhouse round. (I've been informed the dance does include all sisters. However, one performer was unwell the day I went; she stoically performed - thanks, Emily - but was unable to join in the dance.)

And by the threats to seemingly steady income that arrive with change. Nothing's more changeable than men in this solid women's world. Keith Fleming's wide-smiling, happy-dancing Gerry brings brief bursts of joy on his short visits. And Uncle Jack, the priest gone native, seemingly losing his mind but actually suffering the effects of his own change: years missioning in Africa have infected, or injected, him with different ways - and sexual mores - just as the wireless they call 'Marconi' temporarily does the dancing sisters.

Sandy Neilson neatly balances the possibilities for Jack's 'otherness', though Hill might have allowed a slightly stronger suggestion of the reason the Church sent him back.

All five women are beautifully portrayed. There's a fine contrast between Janine Mellor's Rose, smilingly heading for a future void and Ann Louise Ross's stern Kate. Ross shows the humanity and anxiety within the eldest sister's responsibilities.

And Irene Macdougall's Maggie suggests the depth of thought and feeling to be found in any family where life seems mainly a matter of cleaning and carrying.

Michael: Alexander West
Chris: Claire Dargo
Maggie: Irene Macdougall
Agnes: Emily Winter
Rose: Janine Mellor
Kate: Ann Louise Ross
Jack: Sandy Neilson
Gerry: Keith Fleming

Director: Dominic Hill
Designer: Trevor Coe
Lighting: Fleur Woolford
Costume: Phyllis Byrne
Choreography: Rita Henderson
Voice Coach: Ros Steen

2003-03-30 11:44:46