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Act 1
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Act 2
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Programme
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Dancing at Lughnasa
Hyde Heath
Drama Group’s next production is probably one of their most ambitious and
demanding.
Dancing At Lughnasa
by Brian Friel is one of the great modern Irish plays – thought provoking, often
tragic and at times hilariously funny – by one of Ireland’s greatest
playwrights.
It has been performed in Dublin, on the West End stage, and on Broadway. It was
made into a movie in 1998 starring Meryl Streep and was staged last year for a
season at the Old Vic. The Drama Group is privileged to be one of the few
amateur societies to be given permission to stage the play.
Production dates are Thursday, April 22nd, Friday, April
23rd and Saturday, April 24th 2010.
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Set in 1936
Dancing at Lughnasa is a play about hopes, frustrations, dreams and desires
set against a background of Irish
cultural identity, nostalgia, historical change, and pagan ritual. It
revolves around the five Mundy sisters (Kate, Maggie, Agnes, Rosie and
Christine), all unmarried who live together in a cottage
on a farm 2 miles away from
Ballybeg in Donegal with Michael,
Christine’s seven year old son, born out of wedlock.
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They
live a very tight knit and claustrophobic existence in a tiny cottage set on
their own piece of land. A safe and secure home. They have just acquired their
first radio set which plays an integral part in the plot. Kate, the oldest, is
a
school teacher and the only sister
with a job. Agnes and Rose
knit gloves to be sold in town and
help keep the house with Maggie and Christine (the youngest) who have no
income at all. Music and dancing play a pivotal role in
their lives.
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Recently returned home to live with the sisters in their older brother Jack,
a priest who has lived as a missionary in Uganda for 25 years
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However, all of their lives are turned into turmoil with the visit of Gerry
Evans, Michael’s father who deserted his mother a long time ago. Gerry is
charming, charismatic and completely unreliable. A clown and a vagabond for
whom all of the Mundy sisters have a soft spot.
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The play is funny, constantly witty and emotive at the same time
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The Daily Telegraph called it: “Magnificent …
undisputed masterpiece, a drama that mixes memory and desire, generous humour
and piercing sadness. One moment you are laughing uproariously, the next your
eyes are filled with stinging tears. Whatever the mood happens to be, at every
moment the play feels startlingly true, tender and fresh.”
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The
Times called it: “A wonderful play”
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