Award-winning Irish play Dancing at Lughnasa is gearing up for a four-day run in Dubai. Between January 15 and 18, audiences at Dubai Community Threate & Arts Centre (Ductac) in Mall of the Emirates will have the chance to experience 1930’s Ireland from the imagination of playwright and dramatist Brian Friel.
“Dancing at Lughnasa is a beautifully written play whose themes are universal and will resonate among most of Dubai’s many cultural traditions — the importance of family ties and adherence to cultural norms,” said Danu Theatre Society’s founder and director Padraig Downey. Danu Theatre Society is responsible for the Dubai production of the play in association with Brash Brands and Dubai Irish Society.
“I think the similarities found in this play, especially with the UAE culture, are striking.”
The play is considered a “memory play”, with adult narrator Michael Evans looking back on a special summer spent with his mother, Christina Mundy, and his four aunts when he was seven years old. The story follows the five Mundy sisters and their missionary brother who has returned from Africa a weakened man as they live through the tumultuous environment of pre-war Europe and the Spanish Civil War.
In 1991, the play won an Oliver award for Best Play of the Year, and in 1992, it won a Tony Award. In 1998, it was turned into a film with Meryl Streep starring in the role of Kate Mundy.
*Shows are at 7.30pm on Janaury 15-18, with an extra 2.30pm matinee show available on the last day. Tickets are Dh75. Go to ductac.org.
