Dancing at Lughnasa review

Our production of Dancing at Lughnasa was a great success in mid-November, and here is V former Katie Murphy's review of it (an exceptional performance, which couldn’t have been done better by professionals).

She writes about each of the eight performers (pictured, bottom centre, having a late-night pizza after the dress rehearsal)-

• Ellie Russell as Maggie Mundy : whose wit and saucy side got everyone's attention.
  
• Dylan Stewart as Father Jack : His performance was exceptional. He portrayed the difficulty of returning to normal life after such an eventful, and life-changing experience perfectly.
• Oscar Nunan as Gerry Evans : we went from dislike, at his abandonment of his child, to like, for entertaining Christina and the audience with his quick wit and funny stories, and back to dislike, at the discovery of his other family. Oscar played this part beautifully: he was an all-singing all-dancing ball of laughs who charmed the ladies on and off the stage!
  
• Jessica Young as Chrissie : she showed the bursts of sunshine that his visits were to her, and her quiet frustration at his flirtatious behaviour with her sisters, especially Agnes, brilliantly. She had a very romantic part and did it proud.
• Annabel Sharma as Agnes : Annabel showed Agnes’s sweet and patient nature towards Rose very well. Her jealousy of Christina and Gerry’s love was quite apparent, in undercurrents.
• Rory Quinn as the narrator, Michael : It was incredibly well done how they showed him, on the stage; he was never part of the action but always at the centre of the plot. It never occurred to you that he wasn’t really there, that he just wasn’t out of sight too low for us to see or outside the window playing.
  
• Rachael Roden as Rose : showed no shame in her portrayal of Rose: she shouted and sang at the top of her voice and even ran away with a local boy. She was truly wonderful, and deeply saddened all our hearts when she and Aggie ran away.
• Celeste Guinness as Kate : played the part superbly. She was the stereotypical strict schoolteacher, with her crisp manner, prim clothes and harsh tongue. We knew exactly what her character would be before she even opened her mouth.

Read Katie's full review here.