19:45, Tue 29th October – Sat 2nd November 2024 at ADC Theatre
Michaelmas Week 3
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'I want to dance, Kate. It’s the Festival of Lughnasa. I’m only thirty-five. I want to dance.'
Welcome to the not-so-hot Summer of 1936 in Rural Donegal, Ireland. As the five Mundy sisters gather round to listen to the dulcet tones of their new radio, ‘Marconi’, change is coming.
Father Jack’s back from Uganda, Gerry comes and goes at will, yet there’s one journey yet to be decided upon - will the sisters make it to the Harvest Festival after all? Brian Friel’s celebrated semi-autobiographical play artfully and wittily captures the joys and pitfalls of an immediately identifiable era.
Guided by our narrator, Michael, the 'illegitimate' son of the youngest Mundy sister, Dancing at Lughnasa is at its heart a celebration of cultural survival. Marking Friel’s return to the ADC stage, this timeless tale ultimately questions how, in changing circumstances, we relate to and secure our own senses of identity.