Dancing at Lughnasa review: ‘a beautiful production of a beautiful play’

‘Handsome’ revival at the National Theatre is a nostalgic but nuanced ‘delight’

Siobhán McSweeney and Ardal O’Hanlon in Dancing at Lughnasa
Siobhán McSweeney and Ardal O’Hanlon in Dancing at Lughnasa
(Image credit: Johan Persson/National Theatre)

First staged in 1990, Brian Friel’s “magnificent memory play” Dancing at Lughnasa has been revived at the National Theatre, said Sarah Crompton on What’s On Stage. And the production, directed by Josie Rourke, is a “glory”. The story is told from the point of view of a man called Michael, who is looking back on a childhood summer in Donegal in 1936. Michael’s unmarried mother and her four unmarried sisters have welcomed home their brother Jack (Ardal O’Hanlon), a priest just back from Uganda.

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