Dancing at Lughnasa

Dancing at Lughnasa is a play by Irish playwright Brian Friel that was first performed in 1990. Set in 1936, in the fictional Irish town of Ballybeg, it recounts the childhood of its narrator, Michael Evans, across two acts. The title refers to Lughnasadh, the CelticThe Celts were the pre-Roman inhabitants of Western Europe, particularly connected to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. harvest festival that is celebrated each summer. In 1936, Michael was seven years old and living with his mother, Christina, and four aunts: Kate, Maggie, Rose and Agnes. In the summer of that year, the women’s brother, Jack, returns home from Uganda, where he had been working as a missionaryA person who travels to spread a religion. in a leper colonyAn isolated group of people suffering from leprosy. They live together so they do not spread the disease to unaffected people; leprosy was once thought to be extremely contagious. Today, modern treatments means many parts of the world do not have leper colonies. . He returns a changed person: sick with malariaA serious parasite infection transmitted by mosquito bites. It is one of the world’s most lethal diseases., forgetful, and having abandoned his Catholicism for the beliefs of the tribes he spent time with. The play traces his process of readjustment to the home and the town. Through this story, Friel demonstrates that concepts such as duty, morality and responsibility differ widely from person to person. Although many think that their understanding of each of these concepts is the ‘right’ one, no single person can claim a monopoly on what are ultimately highly personal beliefs. As Friel was inspired in part by memories from his own childhood, the play is considered to be semi-autobiographical.