review

Adam House Theatre

A LIGHTNESS of touch to the characterisation and a deft sense of direction gives Leitheatre's production of Brian Friel's modern classic a solid foundation.

This is a story driven by its characters. A glimpse of rural Ireland in 1936, as seen through the eyes of the five Mundy sisters as they react to the worlds of politics, religion and industrialisation which have finally arrived in Ballybeg, County Donegal.

First, however, it is a world filtered through the eyes of Michael, Christine Mundy's illegitimate son. As the narrator, he looks back to the summer he turned five. The summer he met his father, Gerry, an itinerant and failed salesman, for the first time - and when his Uncle Jack returned from his ministry as a missionary in Uganda.

It is the bald naivety of Michael's view which allows Dancing at Lughnasa to be both mesmerisingly quaint and, increasingly, dark in its outlook. But it is the production itself, and direction from Euan MacLeod, which really brings out the early brightness and allows the strands of darkness to creep in.

But the real success here, without too much doubt, lies in the creation of the five sisters. Individually there might be a slight under-achievement, but as a family unit of four spinsters and an unmarried mother, the five actresses are spot on.

The driving force behind this strong and subtle reading of the play comes from Mairi Beaver, as Christine, and Susan Duffy, as Maggie, the down-to-earth sister who keeps hens. Beaver's strength is her face, which tells new levels of the story as she reacts to the unfolding events.

Duffy, constantly bustling about without dominating, ensures the whole never becomes static. She allows Maggie's simple good nature to be the fulcrum for the rest of the cast to exert more leverage on their own characters.

Neither would be any good without strong performances from Rosie Haswell as Agnes, the quiet sister who industriously knits gloves, while providing all the skivvying in the household, and Fiona Edwards as the simple youngest sister, Rose, who the rest look out for and treat as a child.

Michael Paton as Jack and Alan Richardson as Gerry both put in nicely balanced performances. Debra Barrie as Kate the eldest sister and Graham Kells as Michael do need to add to their performances, however. Barrie is too flat in tone, while Kells needs to dig deeper to find the storyteller in himself.

All told, this strong production succeeds in finding the subtleties and nuances of a great little play. It is entertaining without ever being afraid to be a little thought provoking when it needs to be.

Strong sisters with a deft touch make dancing a pleasure