Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Albuquerque/Santa Fe

Regional Reviews

A Dance Through Darkness
Adobe Theater

Also see Caleb's review of Simon as Sergio, Dean's review of Gibraltar and Rob's review of To Kill a Mockingbird


Bridget S. Dunne and Jennifer M. Lloyd-Cary
Dancing at Lughnasa is a play by Irish dramatist Brian Friel who takes a personal look at his unmarried mom and four aunts during the bleak summer of 1936. The five Mundy sisters span their twenties through mid-thirties. All five are without husbands and without prospects. The play is told through the eyes of the grown Michael (Paul Hunton), son of one of the sisters. At the time the play is set, he is a seven-year-old-boy who plays outside the family's cottage. He watches his mom Christina (Jennifer M. Lloyd-Cary) entertain his father Gerry (Jeremy Gwin) on one of Gerry's rare visits.

The family is poor. Only one of the sisters is employed, Kate (Lacey Bingham), who works as a school teacher. Two of the sisters, Agnes (Bridget S. Dunne) and the mentally challenged Rose (Andrea Haskett), hand-knit gloves to bring in extra income, but a knitting factory has just come to town and will put an end to this meager income.

As the play opens, the sisters' older brother Jack (William Lang) has recently returned from his 25-year mission at a leper colony in Uganda. While he served as a priest on his mission, he has apparently gone native, adopting the beliefs of the Ugandans. He also suffers from memory loss. His break in faith causes Kate to lose her job at the school. The trickle of income that has kept the family afloat is about to come to a complete end.

Dancing at Lughnasa opened at the famed Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1990. It soon made its way to London, then on to New York and Broadway. It won best play awards in both London and New York. What we see in the Mundy sisters is both bleak and unsentimental. Their poor life is about to turn worse. The sisters support each other in their own way, but they also snipe and cut at one another.

How Friel makes riches out of this is a wonder. But the play is rich. Perhaps it's the detail, the complex interchange between the sisters—the support and underminings that ring authentic. Perhaps it's because they can all still dance during the rare moments the wireless radio works.

Director Leslee Richards underplays the drama, which is a nice touch. The pathos is implied throughout the story. If it were accentuated, the play would go top heavy. Instead we see real people in their struggle during a relatively unpleasant moment in time. The adult Michael comments occasionally as the drama unfolds. He views the action detached, matter of factly, explaining the dark futures in store for many of the characters. Hard to say why this is such a satisfying play, but it certainly is.

The acting is solid throughout. This is very much an ensemble play, so it is the cast as a whole that delivers well. There are a couple of notable performances. Bridget S. Dunne is wonderful as Agnes (she was also terrific at an earlier Adobe production of Pride and Prejudice). Also, Jennifer M. Lloyd-Cary is strong as Christina, Michael's mother, who is ever hopeful that Gerry will marry her and settle down with the family. Again, the entire cast does a wonderful job.

Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel is directed by Leslee Richards at the Adobe Theater, 9813 Fourth St. NW, through April 27, 2014 as part of the Southwest Irish Theatre Festival. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm. General admission is $15. Admission for seniors, students, and ATG members is $13. For reservations, call 505-898-9222. For more information see the Adobe Theater website, adobetheater.org


Photo: Daryl Streeter

--Rob Spiegel