Dancing at Lughnasa - National Theatre (Olivier)

[Being Alive]

I had the same problem with this I had with virtually all Brian Friel plays...it takes too long for nothing to happen.

Super cast, absolutely beautiful set (best use of the Olivier I've seen for a while) and I was never bored, but I left feeling quite unfulfilled at the end of it.
I think the use of the narrator/kid telling you what happened rather than us seeing it got quite tiresome in the end - they could very easily have cut 20 mins (arguably in both acts) and you'd have lost nothing really.

Glad to have seen it, cast and production superb, I just wished it had moved a bit quicker.

[barrowside]

I loved it. It didn't quite trump the Abbey original where Bríd Brennan was the definitive Agnes but also because Rosaleen Linehan and Anita Reeves were also from the world of variety and had killer comic timing which landed some of the great lines better and created a brisker pace. I've seen many Irish productions since and this is the first time the design has captured the hazy, golden glow of Michael's memories since Joe Vanek's glorious original set and cornfield. That said I'd love to see this NT production again in a slightly more intimate space. I'd be thrilled if I heard Nica Burns was going to take it into somewhere tighter like @sohoplace. Wishful thinking I'm sure - although it has done amazing box office in the Olivier it may not be the commercial West End proposition it was in 1991.