{"id":2773,"global_id":"ballyshannondrama.com?id=2773","global_id_lineage":["ballyshannondrama.com?id=2773"],"author":"1","status":"publish","date":"2018-03-03 13:23:24","date_utc":"2018-03-03 13:23:24","modified":"2018-03-03 13:36:36","modified_utc":"2018-03-03 13:36:36","url":"http:\/\/ballyshannondrama.com\/event\/lifford-players-dancing-at-lughnasa\/","rest_url":"http:\/\/ballyshannondrama.com\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/events\/2773","title":"Lifford Players: ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’","description":"

\"Dancing<\/a>The five Mundy sisters (Kate, Maggie, Agnes, Rosie, and Christina), all unmarried, live in a cottage outside of Ballybeg. The oldest, Kate, is a\u00a0school<\/a>\u00a0teacher<\/a>, the only one with a well-paid job. Agnes and Rose\u00a0knit<\/a>\u00a0gloves to be sold in town, thereby earning a little extra money for the household. They also help Maggie to keep house. Maggie and Christina (Michael’s mother) have no income at all. Michael is seven years old and plays in and around the cottage.<\/p>\n

All the drama takes place in the sisters’ cottage or in the yard just outside, with events from town and beyond being reported either as they happen or as reminiscence.<\/p>\n

Recently returned home after 25 years is their brother Jack, a priest who has lived as a\u00a0missionary<\/a>\u00a0in a\u00a0leper colony<\/a>\u00a0in a remote village called Ryanga in\u00a0Uganda<\/a>. He is suffering from\u00a0malaria<\/a>\u00a0and has trouble remembering many things, including the sisters’ names and his English vocabulary. It becomes clear that he has “gone native<\/a>” and abandoned much of his\u00a0Catholicism<\/a>\u00a0during his time there. This may be the real reason he has been sent home.<\/p>\n

Gerry, Michael’s father, is\u00a0Welsh<\/a>. He is a charming yet unreliable man, always\u00a0clowning<\/a>. He is a\u00a0travelling salesman<\/a>\u00a0who sells\u00a0gramophones<\/a>. He visits rarely and always unannounced. A radio nicknamed “Marconi<\/a>“, which works only intermittently, brings\u00a01930s dance<\/a>\u00a0and traditional\u00a0Irish folk music<\/a>\u00a0into the home at rather random moments and then, equally randomly, ceases to play. This leads the women into sudden outbursts of wild dancing.<\/p>\n

The poverty and financial insecurity of the sisters is a constant theme. So are their unfulfilled lives: none of the sisters has married, although it is clear that they have had suitors whom they fondly remember.<\/p>\n

There is a tension between the strict and proper behaviour demanded by the\u00a0Catholic Church<\/a>, voiced most stridently by the upright Kate, and the unbridled emotional\u00a0paganism<\/a>\u00a0of the local people in the “back hills” of Donegal and in the tribal people of Uganda.<\/p>\n

There is a possibility that Gerry is serious this time about his marriage proposal to Christina. On this visit, he says he is going to join the\u00a0International brigade<\/a>\u00a0to fight in the\u00a0Spanish Civil War<\/a>, not from any ideological commitment but because he wants adventure. There is a similar tension here between the “godless” forces he wants to join and the forces of\u00a0Franco<\/a>\u00a0against which he will be fighting, which are supported by the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

The opening of a\u00a0knitwear<\/a>\u00a0factory in the village has killed off the hand-knitted glove\u00a0cottage industry<\/a>\u00a0that has been the livelihood of Agnes and Rose. The village priest has told Kate that there are insufficient pupils at the school for her to continue in her post in the coming school year in September. She suspects that the real reason is her brother Jack, whose\u00a0heretical<\/a>\u00a0views have become known to the Church and have tainted her by association.<\/p>\n

There is a sense that the close home life the women\/girls have known since childhood is about to be torn apart. The narrator, the adult Michael, tells us this is indeed what happens.<\/p>sample business plan for assisted living facility introduction argumentative essay example best dissertation writers nigeria writing a proposal for a research paper example school music homework help do your own homework how to write a literature review outline","excerpt":"","slug":"lifford-players-dancing-at-lughnasa","image":{"url":"http:\/\/ballyshannondrama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Dancing-At-Lughnasa.jpg","id":2774,"extension":"jpg","width":820,"height":340,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","wp_smushit":"ERROR: posting to Smush.it","url":"http:\/\/ballyshannondrama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Dancing-At-Lughnasa-150x150.jpg"},"medium":{"width":300,"height":124,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","wp_smushit":"ERROR: posting to Smush.it","url":"http:\/\/ballyshannondrama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Dancing-At-Lughnasa-300x124.jpg"},"header":{"width":820,"height":250,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","wp_smushit":"ERROR: posting to Smush.it","url":"http:\/\/ballyshannondrama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Dancing-At-Lughnasa-820x250.jpg"}},"wp_smushit":"ERROR: posting to Smush.it"},"all_day":false,"start_date":"2018-03-15 20:15:00","start_date_details":{"year":"2018","month":"03","day":"15","hour":"20","minutes":"15","seconds":"00"},"end_date":"2018-03-15 22:45:00","end_date_details":{"year":"2018","month":"03","day":"15","hour":"22","minutes":"45","seconds":"00"},"utc_start_date":"2018-03-15 20:15:00","utc_start_date_details":{"year":"2018","month":"03","day":"15","hour":"20","minutes":"15","seconds":"00"},"utc_end_date":"2018-03-15 22:45:00","utc_end_date_details":{"year":"2018","month":"03","day":"15","hour":"22","minutes":"45","seconds":"00"},"timezone":"UTC+0","timezone_abbr":"UTC+0","cost":"","cost_details":{"currency_symbol":"$","currency_position":"prefix","values":[]},"website":"","show_map":true,"show_map_link":true,"hide_from_listings":false,"sticky":false,"featured":false,"categories":[],"tags":[],"venue":{"id":2255,"author":"1","status":"publish","date":"2017-01-15 11:15:37","date_utc":"2017-01-15 11:15:37","modified":"2017-01-15 11:15:37","modified_utc":"2017-01-15 11:15:37","url":"http:\/\/ballyshannondrama.com\/venue\/abbey-arts-centre\/","venue":"Abbey Arts Centre","slug":"abbey-arts-centre","address":"Ballyshannon","json_ld":{"@type":"Place","name":"Abbey Arts Centre","description":"","url":"","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"Ballyshannon"},"telephone":"","sameAs":""},"show_map":true,"show_map_link":true,"global_id":"ballyshannondrama.com?id=2255","global_id_lineage":["ballyshannondrama.com?id=2255"]},"organizer":[],"json_ld":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Event","name":"Lifford Players: ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’","description":"<p>The five Mundy sisters (Kate, Maggie, Agnes, Rosie, and Christina), all unmarried, live in a cottage outside of Ballybeg. The oldest, Kate, is a\u00a0school\u00a0teacher, the only one with a well-paid job. Agnes and Rose\u00a0knit\u00a0gloves to be sold in town, thereby earning a little extra money for the household. They also help Maggie to keep house. Maggie and Christina (Michael\\'s mother) have no income at all. Michael is seven years old and plays in and around the cottage. All the drama takes place in the sisters\\' cottage or in the yard just outside, with events from town and beyond being reported either as they happen or as reminiscence. Recently returned home after 25 years is their brother Jack, a priest who...<\/p>\\n","image":"http:\/\/ballyshannondrama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Dancing-At-Lughnasa.jpg","url":"http:\/\/ballyshannondrama.com\/event\/lifford-players-dancing-at-lughnasa\/","startDate":"2018-03-15T20:15:00+00:00","endDate":"2018-03-15T22:45:00+00:00","location":{"@type":"Place","name":"Abbey Arts Centre","description":"","url":"","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"Ballyshannon"},"telephone":"","sameAs":""},"performer":"Organization"}}