Loft Theatre to Stage Irish Masterpiece

Ruth Herd as Maggie, Rosie Pankhurst as Agnes, Tina Shinkwin as Rose and Leonie Slater as Chris. Photo by Richard Smith Photography.

Dancing at Lughnasa written by Brian Friel, directed by Tom O’ Connor, at The Loft Theatre, Leamington Spa from 3 – 13 December.

Preview

Leamington’s Loft Theatre is rounding off another year of superb local theatre with a production of Brian’s Friel’s award winning play Dancing at Lughnasa, which runs from Wednesday 3 to Saturday 13 December. Regarded as one of Ireland’s most beloved and powerful plays, it was also adapted into a film, starring Meryl Streep, in 1998.

As with many of Friel’s works, Dancing at Lughnasa is set in his fictional creation: the little Donegal town of Ballybeg. However, the play is also semi-autobiographical, being loosely based on the lives of his mother and aunts.

Director, Tom O’ Connor, describes the production as “Powerful, dramatic and fun filled; full of life’s emotions, laughter and tears. It invokes a time where things and life seemed simple but were really not, a time where music flowed and feet danced, a time where change was only a heartbeat away."

The Mundy sisters. Photo by Richard Smith Photography.

Be transported to the heart of rural Ireland during the long, hot days of August 1936 and the celebrations for Lughnasa, the Celtic harvest festival. In a house just outside Ballybeg live five unmarried sisters, along with their brother - a priest recently returned from years of missionary work in Uganda - and the seven-year-old son of the youngest of the sisters.

Over the course of two days in the Mundy family's life, Friel reveals not only the inner world of individuals trapped in their domestic situation, but also the societal tensions - public and private, Christian and pagan – which impact upon them. The five sisters dance through memories filled with laughter and hope, tenderness and heartbreak, while the world is on the brink of irrevocable change.

Tickets can be booked online at www.lofttheatrecompany.com, by emailing boxoffice@lofttheatrecompany.com, or by calling 01926 830 680 (answer phone service).To take advantage of the Loft’s free ticket offer for theatregoers aged 16-25, either book in advance by emailing the box office or obtain your tickets at the Box Office on the night (please bring proof of age).