Dancing at Lughnasa

IR IS PALOMARES

INÉS GENÉ

IVET SENTAÑES

MÒNICA ROS

Introduction

• Performed at the Abby Theatre, Dublin (1990)

• Olivier Award (1991)• Adapted film directed by Pat O’Connor

(1998)• Monologue by Michael• Central motif of dancing and music

Irish cultural identity, nostalgia, historical change, and pagan ritual

Biographyborn 9 January 1929.

In Omagh, Country Tyrone.

BiographyCareer

1950s, 1960s, 1970s

• Began writing The New Yorker.

• From 1950 to 1960, Friel worked as a teacher in Londonderry.

• 1960 to become a full−time writer of short stories.

• 1970 founded the Field Day Theater Company in Northern Ireland

1980s and 1990s

• Friel produced approximately one play per year.

• Awards at the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best foreign play:• 1989, for Aristocrats, and

the Olivier Award, • 1991, for Dancing at

Lughnasa.

2000s and 2007

• Between 1997 and 2003 he produced only the very short one-act plays.

SETIRELANDDONEGAL BALLYBEG

DRESS

LUGHNASA Pagan festival of the harvest, complete with roaring bonfires, ritual chants, and animal

sacrifices.

Old Irish , Lugnasad:◦ Lug (the god Lugh) + násad (an assembly).

Modern Irish , month of August.

Modern Scottish Gaelic , the festival and the month are both called Lùnastal.

ACT I

August, 1936, in the home of Mundy family, two miles outside the village of

Ballybeg, County Donegal, Ireland.

The family have just acquired a new radio.

Michael’s uncle Jack has returned home from Uganda.

ACT I The action of the play opens as the five sisters do chores while

breaking into singing and dancing.

Agnes suggests going to the upcoming local harvest dance.

This act ends with Uncle Jack’s re-enacting a ritual dance from

Uganda.

ACT II

Early September, three weeks later.

The women are doing chores, the little boy is writing a letter.

Uncle Jack describes a ritual ceremony in Uganda.

Rose returns from a boat ride with Danny Bradley.

Michael explains the fate :

◦ Agnes and Rose leaves the family and never returns.

◦ Uncle Jack dies of a heart attack

◦ The scene returns to the kitchen in September,1936, where

women are doing chores. The kites with the primitive faces on

them are presented to the audience.

Michael ends with a monologue.

CHARACTERS

Kate MundyAuthority figure

Religiously conservative and morally upright

Loving and generous

Hidden behind a mask

Feels the weight of responsibility She loses the control of the family

Maggie MundyThe joker and peacemaker of the family

Provides balance in the house

An unknown femininity and a hidden passion

Loving aunt to Michael

In denial

Agnes MundyEndlessly patient and kind to Rose

Hidden passion

Resents being bossed and longs to control her own life

Rose MundyChildlike

Relies on Agnes

Stubborn and independent

Insensitive

Chris MundyUnmarried mother

Vulnerable

Independent

Unhappy

Father Jack MundyFrail and confused

Converted to a ‘pagan’ religion

Represents change

Gerry EvansCharming

Selfish and self-absorbed

Irresponsible father

Childish and insincere

MichaelNarrator

Imaginative

Longs to escape

ThemesMemory:

The action of the play

Friel personal memory

memory is “simultaneously actual and illusory”

Music nostalgic memories with “the music of the thirties.”

Themes

Change:

The acquisition of the wireless radio

The entry of the variety of music

Opening of a knitting factory replaces the cottage industry

The introduction of pagan practices and ideas

Themes

Paganism:

Festival of Lughnasa Religiously conservative and morally upright

Kate Converted to a “pagan”religion

Uncle Jack

STYLE

Monologue

Michael

Appears in the play addressing the audience directly in monologues.

STYLEMusic

ABYSSINIA (p. 3)

THE BRITISH GRENADIERS FIFE AND DRUM (p. 4)

THE MILITARY TWO STEP (p. 20)

THE MASON’S APRON (p. 21-22)

DANCING IN THE DARK (p. 32-33)

ISLE OF CAPRI (p. 6-36)

PLAY TO ME GYPSY (p. 43)

O RUDDIER THAN THE CHERRY (p. 46-48)

HISTORIAL BACKGROUNDFamily, Church, Industrialization.

1936, political revolution of Irish Independence.

CRITICAL OVERVIEW Some critics

Richard Pine said:

“he has maintained a tradition of Irish literature by addressing local themes which have universal significance”

F.C. McGrath said:

“The language is intensely lyrical”

Language

Alan J. Peacock lists some thematic concerns of Field’s use of language:

The power of naming

Political or metaphysical consequences

Problematics of self-definition

Emotional inarticulacy

Authentic and inauthentic narrative

Media AdaptationsDancing at Lughnasa

Was adapted to the screen in a 1998.◦ Film produced by Colombia TriStar.◦ Directed by Pat O'Connor◦ Starring Meryl Streep.

Class Discussion

Thank you for your attention!