A man looks back on his childhood in Ireland, recalling the days before factories took over, before World War II, when a radio that brought the only entertainment and dancing was a release from the daily toil in a household where five unmarried sisters tried to survive as best they could. One man’s memories becomes a universal story of struggle and hope.

This weekend, Haywood Arts Repertory Theatre presents “Dancing at Lughnasa,” the Tony Award-winning Irish play by Brian Friel. The show opens Friday at the Performing Arts Center in Waynesville and continues through next week. Show dates are Aug. 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25 at 7:30 p.m. and Aug. 19 and 26 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $6 for students. For Thursday and Sunday shows, students get in at half the price.

Rick Sibley, Cynthia Lynn, Kane Clawson, Linda Richardson, Carrie Hamilton Howard, Casey Dupree, William Hendry and Bob Greenalch star in a story set in 1936 Ireland. At the time of the pagan harvest festival of Lughnasa, small-town life is briefly interrupted with dancing and revelry. Music from the radio sends these five sisters into kicking up their heels, and this break from the dull reality of their everyday lives becomes a beautiful liberation of the human spirit. These ladies are all in need of something more. Maggie, the mischief maker, needs some excitement. Chrissy, the youngest, seeks a father for her son. Rose, not quite all together with her wits, wanders off and appears distant. Kate and Agnes, the elder sisters of the family, carry the load of responsibility to run the house.

Meanwhile, a sweet-talking drifter, played by William Hendry, tries to charm one of the sisters before moving on, and Father Jack, an Irish missionary returned from a leper colony in Uganda, has notions of practicing pagan rituals now that he’s returned to Ireland. It makes for an interesting plot that builds around the dancing, that release of emotions that the sisters all desperately need.

“And then they are embarrassed to show that emotion,” says Casey Dupree, who plays “Chrissy.”
Though the play is much like the critically-acclaimed movie of the same name (which starred Meryl Streep), the sequence of the events is different in the play. There’s music and dancing sprinkled throughout the production.

This latest HART production is much smaller than previous casts so far this season - a mere eight actors, unlike the 50-plus casts of “Titanic” and “Three Musketeers.” But a compact cast size allows for more character development, and this cast comes together marvelously under the direction of Lloyd Kay, who directed the much-acclaimed “Beauty Queen of Leenane,” which went to the national community theatre competition in June and was invited to represent the United States in Vienna at the International Theatre Festival next May.

“I feel a little pressure,” Kay said during a recent rehearsal, acknowledging that to follow up one award-winning Irish play with another is no small task.

“It takes me back to a lot of my childhood,” Kay said of “Lughnasa.” “It should take anybody back to their childhood.”

If the Irish accents don’t take you away to the Emerald Isle, the verdant scenery and rustic cottage surely will - once again the magic of HART scenic designer and painter Mark Mounce who creates the illusion of space with just the right mixture of light and shadow.

For more information about “Dancing at Lughnasa,” call the HART box office at 828.456.6322 between the hours of 1-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News