Most people are familiar with the film version of Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa; fewer are familiar with the play, and some did not realize that the big screen classic was ever a play at all. Yet this is probably the most famous of Friel's plays; set in County Donegal, Ireland, in August 1936, it tells the story of young Michael Evans and the summer he spent at his aunt's cottage when he was seven years old, as narrated by Michael himself, all grown up.
Although Friel freely admitted modeling the play on Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, it is based very loosely on the lives of Friel's own relatives, particularly his mother and his aunt, whose memories are amalgamated into the experiences of Michael's aunt. The play reflects on the lazy, hazy last days of the summer which seem to go on forever; love is in the air, albeit briefly, for the five Mundy sisters, and an elder brother returns from missionary work in Africa. For a moment, life is filled with promise - but then reality takes hold, and the family begin to wonder how they will make ends meet under the new economic circumstances of the country.
The play derives its title from the Festival of Lughnasada, which takes place in early August. It is a traditional Celtic harvest-time festival, celebrated i the Gaelic countries of Ireland, Scotland and also in the Isle of Man. It relates loosely to the pagan festival of Beltane which falls neatly between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox. It is a time of hope, and of new beginnings, and also the culmination of hard work and seeds sown the year before, which in the context of the play is ironic, because as the Mundy sisters begin to reap what they have sown, their futures begin to look increasingly bleak.
The play premiered at the Abbey Theater in Dublin in 1990 before moving to the National Theater in London the year after. It was an instant hit with both the public and theater critics, winning the Olivier Award for Best Play. Tickets were sold out months in advance, leading to a surprisingly vibrant secondary market that previously had been the exclusive realm of Andrew Lloyd Webber. When the play opened on Broadway at the Plymouth Theater it received equally tumultuous reviews and won the Tony Award for Best Play. Brid Brennan also won a Tony for Best Actress for her portrayal of Agnes Mundy.
The play was adapted for the big screen in 1998 and starred Meryl Streep as Kate Mundy; Brid Brennan, who had starred in the original Dublin production, won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor in a Female Role.
In 2004, the Old Vic Theater in London produced a clever revival of the play, casting actual sisters in the leading Mundy girls roles; this cast included Sorcha Cuack, Niamh Cusack and Sinead Cusack, and also saw the London theater debut of international music star Andrea Corr, who had previously achieved world stardom as part of the Irish rock band The Corrs.
Although this was the most widely known of Friel's plays, he had long been considered one of the greatest English-speaking playwrights; his plays are compared to those of Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. In a career that lasted over fifty years he had a prolific output, writing twenty four plays that were produced throughout the UK, Ireland and also on Broadway. Friel passed away in 2015, at the age of eighty six, in his beloved County Donegal, Ireland.
