Dancing at Lughnasa turns 30

[barrowside]

Brian Friel's beautiful masterpiece premiered on the Abbey Theatre stage 30 years ago today. Would anyone care to share their memories of the wonderful original production which went on to play at The National, in the West End and on Broadway.

[harrietcraig]

The Irish Repertory Theatre in New York staged a revival of the play in 2011. To celebrate the 30th anniversary, some members of the cast of that revival performed a scene from the play on Zoom. I’m not sure if this link will work, but the scene is at:

www.facebook.com/irishrep/videos/1098896607143786/

[dlevi]

I saw the play fairly early in its run at the National and was completely entranced by it. I felt as if I were at the birth of a true modern classic. Not just a play that would be revived overtime , but which would be studied in schools and universities. For me it cemented Brian Friel's reputation as one of the finest playwrights of the century. The next day I had lunch with some friends visiting from the states who were more inclined to go to the latest West End musical than a serious drama and I extolled the virtues of the play to them , so much so that they went to the show the next evening and the evening after that and two weeks later on their way back from other parts of Europe that moved their flights around so that they could go back a third time! They still talk about how that play changed their theatre going habits forever, in favor of plays rather than musicals.

[barrowside]

I was entranced also. I was very young at the time and I saw it at The Abbey during the first run. I remember the set being so beautiful - owing much more to Father Jack's Africa than Donegal. A rough hewn white box with the gable of the kitchen on the right and then the most beautiful golden field of wheat dotted with poppies receding to the left. Lovely memories - the opening tableau where the cast came to the front of the stage bathed in golden light and the crackly music of the 1930's while Gerald McSorley's adult Michael introduced them, the wonderful pagan dance, Agnes and Gerry's pas de deux to Anything Goes in the second act, Anita Reeves' hilarious Maggie creasing with laughter, Rose telling Frances Tomelty's Aunt Kate that she was called "the gander" at school. My most magical memory of it was the image of Aunt Kate taking Father Jack by the elbow and leading him through the cornfield at the end of the first act. It was the most magical play I'd ever seen and thirty years later it still is.

[barrowside]

Apr 24, 2020 22:38:06 GMT harrietcraig said:

The Irish Repertory Theatre in New York staged a revival of the play in 2011. To celebrate the 30th anniversary, some members of the cast of that revival performed a scene from the play on Zoom. I’m not sure if this link will work, but the scene is at:

www.facebook.com/irishrep/videos/1098896607143786/

The link is working and that clip is wonderful - thank you Harriet.

[bordeaux]

Yes, a wonderful evening in the theatre, full of humour and pathos. A very young Stephen Dillane played the charming Gerry when I saw it at the National. Iris Murdoch was in the audience. I still count it as one of the five best new plays I've ever seen. I've never seen a revival, partly because I haven't wanted to overlay the memory of the first production. But I feel now, if the cast was right...

[Mr Snow]

I've seen it live, heard it on the Radio and seen the film.

At the same point each time, I just burst into tears. Nothing else can do it so predictably.


I do often well up at drama, but nothing like this.