Kiltoom Drama to perform ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ this month

The long-awaited Kiltoom Drama autumn play is the classic ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ by Donegal playwright Brian Friel.

Kiltoom’s production will run for four nights at the end of this month, from Thursday, November 27, to Sunday, November 30, at 8pm.

Attendees are being advised that there's no need to pre-book online.

To avoid disappointment, simply arrive at Kiltoom Parish Hall 20 minutes before the 8pm start, and pay at the door. Remember to bring cash - no cards.

The play made its stage debut in April 1990 at the Abbey Theatre before transferring to the West End and Broadway and further afield. It won multiple major awards on both sides of the Atlantic, including the 1991 Olivier Award for Best Play of the Year and the 1992 Tony Award for Best Play. Though not a huge box-office success, the 1998 movie, 'Dancing at Lughnasa' in which Meryl Streep played the role of Kate, was well-received.

Friel’s semi-autobiographical play is set in the 1930s in the fictional village of Ballybay in county Donegal. The central characters are the five Mundy sisters.

In real life, the playwright spent most summers with his mother and her four sisters, staying at "The Laurels," near Glenties in Donegal. In the dedication section of his script, Brian Friel acknowledged his debt to his aunts, describing them as "those five brave Glenties women".

Ruth Kilduff does an excellent job taking on the role of Kate, the eldest of the five Mundy sisters and the family's primary breadwinner. As the Mundy family’s chief homemaker, Della Sammon steps up to play the complex role of Maggie.

Gillian Coughlan plays Agnes, the chief knitter and vibrant, energetic housekeeper in the Mundy family, while Claire Lemass, plays Rose, a home-based knitter. Claire sensitively portrays the character’s naivety and vulnerability, which are aligned with her developmental disability. Rebecca Collins, meanwhile, plays Chris, the youngest of the sisters, and unmarried mother to seven-year-old Michael.

In the male roles, Dermot Fitzgerald plays Gerry Evans, a charming, flattering, multi-talented dance teacher and gramophone salesman from Wales.

So why did Kiltoom Drama wait 35 years after its premiere to perform this play? The director of the production, Ollie Hegarty, confesses: "We waited until Tom Blaine (originally from near Killybegs) was approaching an age when he could play the role of Father Jack, the priest returning from a leper colony in Uganda.

"I'm pleased to say Tom still doesn’t look old enough to play a 50-60-year-old missionary priest losing his memory, but I’m confident our backstage make-up artists can work wonders!”

Tom is accompanied in the cast by fellow Donegal native, Michael McGlone from Ballyshannon.

Michael, who last year assumed the prestigious role of Director of the All-Ireland Drama Festival, plays the pivotal role of the ‘Narrator’ in the production.

There is one final Donegal subtext associated with this Kiltoom’s decision to produce this play.

Talented Donegal man Frank McGuinness, who wrote the screenplay for the 1998 movie, Dancing at Lughnasa, grew up in a few doors away from Kiltoom’s director of this production. Small world.