Theater Reviews : Ensemble’s ‘Dancing’ Makes Vivid Memory

The Old Globe Theatre’s shimmeringly lovely production of “Dancing at Lughnasa” offers a timely reminder of the quiet desperation of women in more limited times.

The genteel poverty of the five hard-working Mundy sisters in 1936 Ballypeg, Ireland, is bluntly captured by Ralph Funicello’s set--a poor, worn kitchen without walls, surrounded by the wilds of the fields outside. It suggests their absolute vulnerability to the vicissitudes of the outside world.

Brian Friel’s lyrical play also is an exquisitely crafted, deceptively simple ensemble piece that has enjoyed wide exposure at regional theaters, including South Coast Repertory, in the past year.

First staged in 1990 in Dublin, this thoroughly Irish Tony-award winner has the distinctly American feel of big dreams crashing on the jagged realities of life. It harks back to Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.”

Both, on the surface, are simple tales, skeletons on which the playwrights flesh out poetic memories. Each delicately delineates the struggle, grace and unexpected pleasures of women through the eyes of a male narrator who has escaped the doom closing around them.

Above all, “Dancing” exudes ineffable sadness, mystery and charm--a mix that director Andrew J. Traister captures very well.

The story is about how the Mundy sisters longed to dance at the pagan festival of Lughnasa, but the eldest, the very proper Kate (Michael Learned), forbade it. Narrating the tale is Michael (Joel Anderson), the illegitimate child of another sister, Chris (Erika Rolfsrud).

As Michael tells the tale, it becomes clear that the desperate desire to dance was more than it seemed. It was the desire to escape, to loose the shackles of their lives--if only for an evening--and to celebrate the joy of life one more time before their own world was about to collapse.

The women’s tale is intertwined with that of their brother, Jack (Richard Easton), who returns from a lifetime of treating lepers in Africa only to reveal that he has gone native--tarnishing his local sainted image by embracing the pagan faith of those in his care.

And then there’s the tale of Michael’s father, Gerry (James O’Neil), the ne’er-do-well who would alternately charm and leave his mother to fend for herself and their son.

Leading the cast in every sense of the word is Learned in the difficult role of Kate, the eldest and most puritanical sister. Learned, who brought dignity to the role of the mother in “The Waltons,” elucidates the caring that motivates Kate’s forbidding nature.

She, more than any of them, has the vision to see what could and ultimately does befall the family. And while she seems unnecessarily harsh, Learned’s performance shows why the sisters obey her; the intensity of her intelligence is driven, ultimately, by love.

In the other pivotal role of Michael, Anderson tells the story with deep affection, pity and just the right pinch of wry humor. Easton strikes the right, understated tone for Jack, who is naively unaware that his simple embrace of pagan faith is undermining the sisters’ fragile place in the Ballypeg community.

The eloquent Robin Pearson Rose says much with little as Agnes, the dour sister who has quietly taken on primary care of the mentally retarded sister, Rose (Sally Smythe). Smythe’s Rose crackles with frustration at her limitations. Katherine McGrath’s Maggie shows herself the wisecracking other half of Kate--also, in her own wild way, fighting valiantly to keep things under control.

Rolfsrud sensitively reveals the heartbreaking nature of Chris--her wide, bruising swings from ecstasy to despair. But O’Neil, while charming and a very fine dancer, fails to hint at the sexual magnetism that supposedly made him so irresistible.

Marianna Elliott’s worn costumes exude authentic period poverty. Barth Ballard’s lighting captures the dramatic shifts, strikingly so when the action spills out of the house and into the adjoining yard.

The sisters’ outburst of Irish dancing in the kitchen, choreographed by Kevin Patterson and Liam Harney, is magically rousing. It hits at the first-act break, yet it is so memorable, it remains the image that haunts the audience through the second half--just as it must have lingered as a high point in the minds of the Mundy sisters.

* “Dancing at Lughnasa,” Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park, San Diego. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends June 18. $20-$36. (619) 239-2255. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes. Joel Anderson: Michael

Michael Learned: Kate

Katherine McGrath: Maggie

Robin Pearson: Rose Agnes

Sally Smythe: Rose

Erika Rolfsrud: Chris

James O’Neil; Gerry

Richard Easton; Jack

An Old Globe Theatre production of Brian Friel’s play. Directed by Andrew J. Traister. Sets: Ralph Funicello. Costumes: Marianna Elliott. Lights: Barth Ballard. Sound: Jeff Ladman. Vocal/dialect coach: Claudia Hill. Movement directors: Kevin Patterson, Liam Harney. Stage manager: Peter Van Dyke.