Eventide Theatre Company to Present DANCING AT LUGHNASA

Dancing at Lughnasa, Irish playwright Brian Friel's 1992 "most elegant and rueful memory play since Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie" (Time Magazine), will be presented by the Eventide Theatre Company on the Gertrude Lawrence Stage at Dennis Union Church in the heart of Dennis Village from October 15 - November 8 (Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2:30. No performance October 18).

Dancing at Lughnasa brought Brian Friel great acclaim internationally, winning him several Tony Awards, including Best Play, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and Great Britain's Lawrence Olivier Award for Best Play. It was also turned into a film in 1998, starring Meryl Streep.

Taking place in a small impoverished Irish village in the late summer of 1936, Dancing at Lughnasa reveals a deeply moving, profound, funny, and exhilarating diversity in one family's struggle to survive their isolated small-town existence in Depression era Ireland. It is the story of five unmarried sisters from age twenty-six to forty, Michael, the young son of one of them (the narrator of their story), his Uncle Jack, a missionary priest just returned home to die after twenty-five years serving a leper colony in Uganda, and Gerry, Michael's father, who makes two rare visits to the sister's home. The play reveals how the sisters survive their pent-up, lonely, drab existence through their love for one another, their determined differences, and the spirit of the dance unlocked in them by Irish music played on their wireless radio. Set during the festival of Lughnasa in August, these Catholic sisters' wild dancing to their radio's music in celebration of the pagan God of the Harvest, Lugh, helps them to find release... at least for a moment.

Incidental Irish music for Dancing at Lughnasa is taken from recordings by Rose Clancy of the Chatham Fiddle Company. Ms. Clancy will perform live on the Eventide Stage at 1:30 p.m. prior to the October 25 Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m. Clancy's unique fiddle style embraces Northern Irish, Scottish, and some French Canadian influences. She plays with The Clancy Tradition, and runs two high level sessions: at the Squire in Chatham, MA and at Tinker's Son, Norwell, MA.

Tickets for Dancing at Lughnasa may be reserved by calling 508-398-8588 or on-line at EventideArts.org. Tickets are: $20. Group and Children's rates are available. Membership is available on-line with member tickets at a reduced rate. The first Friday, October 16, is a "pay-what-you-will performance."

Photo Credit: Toby Wilson

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