In Step With Brian Friel

Brian Friel, arguably the finest Irish playwright of the last half of the 20th century, deals in language. It’s his Celtic heritage. That’s the magic of his semiautobiographical “Dancing at Lughnasa,” now in a technically impeccable production at UC Irvine’s Concert Hall.

“Dancing at Lughnasa” is a memory play, though not as dour as Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie,” nor as giddy as Eugene O’Neill’s “Ah, Wilderness!”

Middle-aged Michael looks back to 1936, when he was 9. He was living with his unwed mother, Chris, and her four sisters--Irish Catholic, insular and proud. They all wanted men, but family was more important. “Lughnasa” is about the sisters’ struggle to remain a unit and the failure of their dreams.

It’s a touching memoir--a big-screen version starring Meryl Streep opens next week--and one that’s dependent upon understanding the forces that guide the lives of the sisters and the two males who are part of their lives.

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Director Keith Fowler knows this territory and lays it out delicately yet forcefully. With Annie Loui’s buoyant choreography and Donnis Bates’ evocative scenic design, combining stark realism and hints of Freudian oppression, the production conjures a world lost to us but still breathing in many parts of the Western world.

The chemistry among the sisters is integral, and Fowler cast with taste and insight. Courtney Peterson, as eldest sister Kate, has a powerful yet totally vulnerable hard edge as the self-deceiving matriarch dedicated to protecting her sisters from a life of sin. Megan Byrne’s jocular Maggie rides herd in every scene that gives her the chance.

The family is bound by strictures and ideals that corrupt and define their lives. This is best exemplified in Cynthia Beckert’s performance as the hard-working Agnes, whose livelihood of knitting gloves is to be usurped by a machine, and in Julie Kiernan’s luminous portrayal of the sweetly naive, joyful Chris.

Yet all of these fine performances are upstaged by Beth Malone’s Rose, the sister who is simple-minded but who has the most humor and the most logical mind of the bunch. Malone’s detail and intricate shadings are small moments of magic. She’s an actress to watch.

Neil David Seibel is Chris’ lost love--and Michael’s unreliable dad--and Seibel plays the stereotype to its hilt. So does Greg Ungar as the sisters’ elder brother, a missionary priest who eventually found more spirituality in the ceremonies of his Ugandan leper tribe than in the rites of Rome.

Jon Dolton, as the present-day Michael, is effective but overdoes his emotionalism in the second act, when subtlety would evoke more empathy.

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* “Dancing at Lughnasa,” Concert Hall, West Peltason Drive and Mesa Road, UC Irvine. 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday. $13-$15. Ends Nov. 21. (949) 824-5000. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.

Courtney Peterson: Kate

Megan Byrne: Maggie

Cynthia Beckert: Agnes

Beth Malone: Rose

Julie Kiernan: Chris

Neil David Seibel: Gerry

Jon Dolton: Michael

Greg Ungar: Father Jack

A Drama at UCI production of Brian Friel’s drama. Directed by Keith Fowler. Scenic design: Donnis Bates. Lighting design: M. Fitzgerald. Sound design: Stephan Jonas. Costume design: Becca Shea. Choreography: Annie Loui. Voice/vocal coach: Dudley Knight. Stage manager: Robert Sean Manning.