By Carrie Penepent
Contributing Writer
St. Bonaventure’s theater program, presented its production “Dancing at Lughnasa” by Brian Friel in the Garret Theater Oct. 22 through 25.
Dancing at Lughnasa is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator. This play was based on the lives of Friel’s mother and aunts who lived in the town of Glenties, on the west coast of Donegal in Ireland. With the assistance from the theater director, Dr. Simone, the cast and crew presented an extraordinary performance.
Set in the summer of 1936, the play tells the story of an Irish family in their home in Ireland. The play is set in early August, around the time of Lughnasadh, the Celtic Harvest Festival in Ireland. The play describes an unpleasant harvest for the Mundy family. The Mundy household was ruled by women who all helped raise a 7-year-old boy. Although there was not an actual child on stage, Dakota Ward, narrated the voice of the young boy, Michael.
Ward, a sophomore journalism and mass communication major, explained watching TV shows helped him perfect his part.
“Well, I watched a lot of a series on Netflix called Picky Blinders to help me practice,” said Ward. “The guys that act in the series have Irish accents and I would repeat what they were saying. When speaking my lines, I practiced saying “io” a thousand times–and I had say my “T”s with a hard tongue”
Michael does not appear on center stage as a child but is shown on the side of the stage as a narrator. When speaking to his ancestors, Michael narrates the summer in his aunts’ cottage when he was a child. Michael is seen as being surrounded by love, since all five of the sisters are extremely fond of him. Not only is Michael communicating with his family from the past, but he knows what the future holds for each of his family members.
The main sisters Chris, Maggie, Anges, Rose, and Kate welcomed the audience in their kitchen where they sipped tea as a family. Like any family, these sisters had their moments of rage and compassion towards each other. Three of the Mundy sisters- Chris, Rose, and Kate were seeking to find their soul mates to dance with at the Lughnasadh. Clarissa Ahumada-Aubert (Chris), Bridget Hoag (Rose), and Tori Lanzillo (Kate) who played these sisters did an outstanding job with showing the audience their compaction for their stage sisters. Michael expresses great empathy for his family members and relived the passing of each one of the women that loved and cherished that summer in 1936.
Penepeca14@bonaventure.edu
