Dancing at Lughnasa

In Dancing at Lughnasa, director Miranda Cromwell reconstructed an autobiographical play written by Brian Friel. The play is narrated by Michael Evan, played by Peter Spearman, and recalls his upbringing in rural Ireland in the year 1936. The character Michael is seven at the time of the story, but recalls the hardships faced by his mother and her sisters as they struggle economically and socially. Because the story is mostly told in retrospection, Cromwell chose to utilize abstract methods of conveying the themes of the play. Through the dramatic elements of plot, spectacle, and character, Cromwell highlighted the themes of adversity and spiritual questioning that are central to the story.

In her director’s notes, Cromwell notes that Dancing at Lughnasa attempts to convey worldly themes by centering on the events that effect one family. Thus, the element of plot is the central driving force that accomplishes the playwright’s goal. While the events of the story appear to be portrayed linearly, the director asserts that there is a “magic” to the play that transcends the linear events of the play. In order to underscore the point that the plot of the play diverges from traditional linear forms of storytelling, the director made many choices that disrupted the plot. For example, the character Michael disrupts many of the events of the play in order to deliver monologues where he tells the audience what is happening or what is going to happen. Underscoring the idea that the events of the play are not linear, the seven-year old Michael is represented by a spotlight on stage, demonstrating that the story is told from a later date in time. By continually interjecting himself into the play, Michael alters the timeline of the plot and shifts the audience between the present events of the play and the future, after the events of the play have ended.

The reason that these shifts in time are key to presenting the plot of the play is that the plot is driven by the concept of memory. Though the audience might believe that they are witnessing a narrative account of events, it is necessary to remind the audience that they are relying upon the memory of the characters, both within the sequence of events and from outside the sequence of events. For example, the audience relies on the memories of Father Jack in order to learn about the native rituals that he encountered in his trip to Uganda. Yet this is unreliable because he is clearly confused. Further, the audience relies upon the adult Michael to describe the experiences of his mother and aunts. This account is also unreliable because Michael was only seven-years old at the time of the events. Thus, the choice to continually disrupt the narration of the play and move the audience back and forth in time as the plot unfolds strengthens the theme of memory that the director wishes to emphasize. Additionally, by bringing the plot into the future, the struggles that impacted the family, such as fearing unemployment and hardship, are more accessible to a modern audience. Michael serves as a device that bridges the historical events of the play to the broader world and to audiences today.

In addition to utilizing plot to highlight the themes of the play, Cromwell makes use of spectacle to highlight the play’s themes. The term spectacle refers to the overall mood and atmosphere that is experienced by audience members who attend the play. Because the plot of the play centers on a festival that is about to take place and the theme of ritual, spectacle is important to setting the mood of the play. There are two main points that the director conveys through spectacle. First, the director establishes the time period in which the play is set. To achieve this end, the music in the play was utilized to develop spectacle. For example, scenes were interlinked with 1930s by playing popular music of the period like early Jazz through the radio on set. One recognizable track was from the jazz musician Cole Porter, which played as all activity stopped on stage. The other significant aspect of the choice of the Cole Porter soundtrack was that it further universalized the events of the play. While the events centered on the setting of Ireland, the music that was featured between and during acts was from different parts of the world, reflecting the universality of the story.

Second, the director conveys the rose-colored glasses through which the narrator recalls the events of the play through spectacle. This was accomplished by making the atmosphere as comfortable and abstract as possible. Upon entering the theatre, the audience was greeted by a thrust stage, which was more intimate that a normal proscenium stage. This arrangement enabled the audience to become immersed in the play and to interact with the actors and actresses on stage. Further, instead of reconstructing the childhood home of the narrator, the stage simply contained a backdrop of window frames. The use of frames both captured the interest of the audience and forced the audience to consider the non-literal meaning of the events in the play. Additionally, the director reduced the levity of the plot by using humor to engage the audience. For example, while Father Jack’s condition is serious, and his condition threatens the family’s financial stability and reputation, his incoherent speech was also found to be amusing by the audience. In one humorous scene, Father Jack, played by Gregory Mangieri, rushed onto stage without his pants on, which caused the audience to erupt in laughter. Instability was offset by the antics of both Father Jack and Gerry Evans, demonstrating how spectacle can be used to alter the mood of a play.

Finally, the use of character enables Cromwell to address the theme of religious questioning. In the play, the characters Jack and Kate represent tension between Christian and pagan religious practices. Father Jack talks with admiration about the native practices in Uganda, which differs from the teachings of the Catholic Church. However, Kate expressed that she disapproved of the Lughnasa festival because of its pagan origins and disapproved of Jack’s interest in the native religious practices in Uganda. Ultimately, Kate is fired from her job as a teacher because of Jack’s deviation from the faith, despite her own devout nature. By making this conflict central in the play, the theme of religious conflict is made universal and is understood to extend beyond the events that are happening to one family.

In Dancing at Lughnasa, director Miranda Cromwell utilized plot, spectacle, and character to highlight the tone and themes of the play. By disrupting the events of the play through narration, Cromwell is able to present a story that is linked to a specific time period, yet is timeless. By focusing on creating spectacle, the director is able to challenge the audience to consider the abstract in an inviting setting. Further, the spectacle of the play illustrates the rose-colored nature of Michael’s reflections. Finally, through character, Cromwell is able to underscore the religious tension that serves as a core theme in the play.