Dancing at Lughnasa

by Brian Friel
Seanachai Theatre (Irish American Heritage Center)
February 2010
Directed by Elise Kauzlaric
Set design by Alan Donahue
Costume design by Aly Greaves
Sound design by Joe Court

Production photos

Research collages
For this production of Brian Friel’s popular Irish memory play, director Elise Kauzlaric was drawn to images of Ireland that were dusty, brown, and dilapidated.  Production design needed to be able support the truth of the scenes in the home of the sisters, but be able to move fluidly into the moments of Michael’s narration from a different time.  We also wanted to connect, visually and aurally, the pagan rituals described by Uncle Jack with the outburst of dance by the sisters.
The lighting design idea pulled color and texture inspiration from early 20th century Irish landscape painting.  Photographs of ritual dance across several cultures inspired the severe angle shift used to highlight the pagan dances.
The set developed as a place with realistic furniture but no walls or solid lines to delineate indoor from outdoor, garden from kitchen, framed by rocky portals against a sky.  Warm color choices accented the dusty brown coloring of the set.  Coloring the sky with light became a tool to navigate the story; mixing blues and ambers lent depth to more realistic scenes, while playing the amber alone served as a backdrop for the ritual dance, and using only the blue created another distinct picture for Michael’s memory recall.  A recurring theme in the play was the creation of a series of snapshots of the family, a collaboration of tableau staging and the abrupt sound and light of a camera flash.