Dancing at Lughnasa

Dancing at Lughnasa
The pagan spirit of harvest gives its name to the harvest festival “Lughnasa” at which dancing is called for.

We all know what dancing leads to but what leads to dancing?

Unseen Theatre Company is proud to present, in association with some newly graduated performers from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts - “Dancing at Lughnasa”. The production, originally directed by Andrew Lewis, was performed at WAAPA in July this year to critical acclaim.

This production for the Adelaide Fringe will be directed by Paul Komadina - a talented and experienced director who recently graduated in the inaugural year of WA Screen Academy @ ECU - and will feature most of the original cast, as well as some emerging and experienced artists from Adelaide.

Dancing at Lughnasa is set in the fictional village of Ballybeg, in County Donnegal, Ireland in 1936. It is a gripping and moving memoir of a long lost summer in the lives of five unmarried Irish sisters and those they loved. Each sister has her own way of getting through the rugged emotional landscape that is family, but dancing to an unreliable Marconi radio unites them all - awakening long-buried desires, vanishing dreams and a last chance at happiness in this poetic and heartwarming story.

Despite, or perhaps because of, their completely different characters, the sistersÂ’ family bonds are almost tangible as they sustain and support each other through the isolation of traditional Irish life and a time of economic depression.

Brian Friel is acknowledged as Ireland's greatest living playwright and Dancing At Lughnasa is widely regarded as his masterpiece. His plays have been performed continuously around the world for over 40 years. Dancing at Lughnasa premiered in Ireland and won the 1991 Olivier Award. It also went to London’s West End, and then Broadway, where it won three Tony Awards in 1992, including Best Play. In 1998 it was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Michael Gambon. Some of Friel’s other plays include “Translations” (which was recently nominated by The National Theatre, London's Board of Review, as one of the 25 most significant plays of the 20th Century), “The Faith Healer”and “The Freedom of the City”.

Dancing At Lughnasa features as the five sisters: - Penelope Jonas as “Kate”, Melanie Munt as “Maggie”, Viva Skubiszewski as “Agnes”, Smiljana Glisovic as “Rose”. Lotte St. Clair as “Chris”. Tim Major as “Michael” and Dave Maguire as “Gerry” complete the cast coming from interstate and Artistic Director of the Bakehouse Theatre Company Peter Green will join the ensemble in the role of “Father Jack.”