Tensions mount during a scene in “Dancing with Lughnasa,” a Heartwood Regional Theater Co. production currently playing at the Parker B. Poe Theater in Newcastle. The story two pivotal days in the lives of six siblings in rural Ireland is a rich drama with political and religions themes. (Photo courtesy Jenny Mayher)
“Do we smile? Are we happy? Or are we in character?” asked Nanette Fraser. Fraser plays the oldest, sternest sister Kate in “Dancing at Lughnasa,” now playing at the Parker B. Poe Theater in Newcastle.
Fraser and the rest of the ensemble cast were about to take a few promotional photos after their second-to-last rehearsal of “Dancing at Lughnasa” on June 17. She had good reason to ask, as there are few smiles and fewer laughs in tale of an Irish family in 1936.
Playwright Brian Friel weaves a story around two days in the life of his mother and her sisters. A 7-year-old version of himself named Michael is a character who exists without being real. The actors talk to and play with Michael, but he’s not there – just like Friel’s memories.
In his opening monologue, Michael tells the audience of two profound and simultaneous events of that pivotal summer: the family got a wireless radio and his uncle Jack returned from 25 years as an Ugandan missionary.
“I remember the kitchen throbbing with the beat of Irish dance music beamed to us all the way from Athlone, and my mother and her sisters suddenly catching hands and dancing a spontaneous step-dance and laughing – screaming! – like excited schoolgirls,” the character said at the start of the play.
In a 30-second trailer for the Olivier Theater in London’s production of “Dancing at Lughnasa,” Michael’s words accompany happy music over a soft focus montage of laughing, twirling women embracing joy and sisterly love. This is close to the opposite of what really plays out, as the play is the story of six struggling siblings in a harsh world and how their Catholic religion clashes with Gaelic celebrations.
As children, the sisters loved to dance at the annual harvest festival, Lughnasa, which celebrates Lugh, a Celtic deity. As adults, their Catholic religion bars acknowledging the old gods and ways.
Emily Sue Barker plays Chris, Michael’s mother. Teralyn Reiter portrays Aunt Maggie, the funny one who relates to Michael the most. Abigail White plays Aunt Aggie, the quiet one whose closed mouth keeps big secrets, and May Halm embodies Rose, the one with an unnamed mental disability.
Fresh off a run as the titular Beast in Lincoln County Community Theater’s sold-out “Beauty and the Beast,” Joseph Lugosch plays Gerry, Michael’s ne’er-do-well father. This role sharply contrasts with Beast, as suave, confident Gerry may be cash poor, but he is charisma rich.
The sisters cannot help but concern themselves with romance, which led to their communal, Gerry- less upbringing of Michael. Division over Gerry is just one more thing tearing this family apart as Kate tries to keep them all together.
Morgan Shattuck portrays Michael, returning to a role he played as a student at Lincoln Academy when the play was staged in 2006. Lugosch was also a character in that 2006 production, in the role of Uncle Jack, which is now played by Tim Cunningham.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, June 27-29 in Poe Theater on the Lincoln Academy campus, at 81 Academy Hill Road in Newcastle. Tickets are $5 for students through college and $30 for all adults.
To make a reservation, email info@heartwoodtheater.org or call 563-1373.
“Dancing at Lughnasa” is presented with special permission of Dramatists Play Service Inc.
Sisters interact in a scene from “Dancing at Lughnasa,” a dramatic play currently showing at Parker B. Poe Theater in Newcastle. Heartwood Regional Theater Co. presents the story of a family as told through the memory of its youngest member. (Photo courtesy Jenny Mayher)
