The Unlucky Still Laugh in ‘Lughnasa’

There’s a breakout passage in the Theatre District’s compassionate “Dancing at Lughnasa” when the five Mundy sisters forget their desperation for a bit and joyously high-step to an Irish tune.

Until then, there’s been girlish laughter but mostly anxiety. These resilient yet vulnerable women, living together in a rough home in rural Ireland during the mid-1930s, sense that things will get worse, not better. Their solvency is eroding and no rescuing husbands are in the cards.

But they have their moments. When the sisters’ treasured radio decides to work, sending crackling tunes through the crowded kitchen and out to the porch, they can’t help but dance. And mixed in with the usual sibling vexations, there’s clearly love among them.

Brian Friel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play doesn’t make any apologies for its arch sentimentality, and neither does director Mario Lescot. His staging at the Costa Mesa theater isn’t designed to understate but rather to bring the family’s defeats (and tiny triumphs) into obvious focus. That leads to a few overly emotional scenes. But mostly it connects us with the Mundys and their isolation.

What motors any good drama is tension, and tension comes from various directions in “Dancing at Lughnasa.” The sisters’ older brother, Jack (David Rousseve), is now living with them after years of working with lepers in Africa. His health is bad, but something else is going on. Jack, a priest, talks of the dangers of “going native” and seems more drawn to pagan rituals than Roman Catholicism.

Also circling the Mundy sphere is the charming Gerry (Christian Holiday), seducer of Chris (Regan D’Lyn), the youngest sister, and father of her small son, Michael (Bill Forant, who also narrates the story). He’s a blarney-stone rascal, talking passionately of both marrying Chris and fighting with the anti-Franco forces in Spain. Nobody knows if he’s telling the truth.

How the sisters react to these two and the life they share holds our interest. Watching everything warily is the bossy, good-intentioned Kate (Christi Sweeney). Then there’s the slow, wounded Rose (Deborah Kissinger) and the repressed Agnes (Deborah Conroy), who silently longs for Gerry.

Alice Ensor is striking as Maggie, a robust presence masking her sadness under an earthy gaiety who tries hard to instill the same energy in others. D’Lyn is appealing as the impetuous, more innocent Chris, and there’s romantic voltage between her and Holiday’s Gerry.

The stage, while crowded because it’s so small, looks just fine thanks to the graceful design by Two Blue Chairs Inc. The kitchen, which dominates, has a lived-in, aging quality. You couldn’t say the Mundy homestead is on the verge of ruin, but that time definitely isn’t far off.

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* “Dancing at Lughnasa,” the Theatre District, 2930 Bristol St., C-106, Costa Mesa. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m. $15 and $20. Ends Saturday, June 5. (714) 435-4043. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

Bill Forant: Michael

Regan D’Lyn: Chris

Alice Ensor: Maggie

Deborah Conroy: Agnes

Deborah Kissinger: Rose

Christi Sweeney: Kate

David Rousseve: Jack

Christian Holiday: Gerry

A Theatre District production of Brian Friel’s drama. Director: Mario Lescot. Lighting: Extended Visions. Sound: David Podley and Bonnie Vise. Costumes: Joan Lescot. Choreography: Lorianne Hill and Regan D’Lyn. Set: Two Blue Chairs Inc.