Review: Dancing at Lughnasa, Lyndhurst Drama & Musical Society

TO my shame, I was not familiar with the works of Brian Friel but this omission was rectified when Lyndhurst Drama & Musical Society put on the interesting Dancing at Lughnasa, a semi-biographical ‘memory’ play written in 1990.

Lughnasa (pronounced ‘Loonasa’) is an Irish harvest festival named after pagan god Lugh, corresponding to the English Lammas day. The play is set in August 1936. The poverty-stricken Mundy sisters live in a remote cottage near Ballybeg, Co. Donegal, along with their ailing brother, Jack, a retired missionary.

The play is narrated by the adult Michael recalling his days growing up that summer with his unmarried mother along with his doting aunts and uncle.