Dancing at Lughnasa

Brian Friel is an author, dramatist, and is the director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He was born in Omagh, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. He was originally a Maths teacher in Derry Primary and intermediate school system until taking leave in 1960 to live of his savings and pursue a career as a writer. In 1987, he was nominated to be a member of Seanad Éireann (sort of like an Irish senate) by the then head of the government and served until 1989. At that time BBC Radio launched what they called a "Brian Friel Season" which was a series devoted to a six-play season of his work. He is the first living playwright to recive this honor.  He has written more than thirty plays throughout the past six decades but is best known for his plays Philadelphia, Here I Come! and Dancing at Lughnasa. He has won several awards including Donegal Person of the Year, Evening Standard Award for Best Play, New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play, and the New York Drama Critics Circle award for best foreign play. He has also won Laurence Olivier award for Best Play, New York Drama Critics Circle award for best play, and several Tony awards, including Best Play for Dancing at Lughnasa.

Dancing at Lughnasa, is a play set in 1936 Ireland, and is a tale of five sisters who struggle with their identities and place in society. It shows their struggle to stay together as a family while dealing with each other and the world’s different ideals. It is told from the point of view of the character Michael, who is seven during the instances in the play but is never seen and is narrating the story outside of the play as an adult.

·         Why do you think Friel decided to not show Michael on stage when he was younger?

·         How do you think it would change the play if the seven year old Michael was show?

·         The time period the play is set in is obviously significant. How do you think it would affect the play if it was set in another time period?

·         Would the themes of the play still hold true?

·          What if it was set today?

·         Thoughts on the dancing and the music in the play?