Dancing as fast as they can

It takes exceptionally fluid performances to maneuver through the intricate, emotional steps of “Dancing at Lughnasa,” Brian Friel’s achingly eloquent memory play about an impoverished rural Irish family facing a pivotal end-of-summer harvest season in 1936. Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre Company proves up to the challenge, with a stellar cast that evokes a bygone era in a foreign land with convincing naturalism. As in the dramas of Chekhov, the play’s meandering story line is likely to puzzle some viewers and frustrate others, but those it touches will be deeply moved by Friel’s portrait of unraveling familial ties.

Embodying the friction point between harsh practical reality and the creative imagination, the play’s semiautobiographical reminiscences about growing up in a household of five unmarried sisters are steeped in felt truth rather than literal fact. “Atmosphere is more real than incident,” explains Friel’s stand-in narrator, Michael (James O’Neil), who participates in these memories as the voice of his 7-year-old self, and provides rueful commentary from an adult perspective.

The all-important sense of family -- with its crisscrossed affections and loyalties -- is palpable among the five Mundy sisters. If stern, uptight teacher Kate (Susan Clark) squashes any attempt at frivolity, it’s because she feels the weight of keeping the household together. Beset by broader forces beyond her control, Kate desperately complains that “cracks are appearing everywhere” -- from political upheaval in the impending formation of the breakaway Republic of Ireland to the rising repressive authority of Irish Catholicism to the advancing industrialization that destroys the family’s way of life.

This wide array of external pressures aligned against the Mundys, so obvious to Friel’s native audience, are only alluded to in passing -- the play’s focus is on their human ramifications. A nearby factory threatens to take away the knitting livelihood of enigmatic Agnes (Stephanie Zimbalist), a deep thinker of few words, and sweet but heartbreakingly simple-minded Rose (Karyl Lynn Burns), who requires constant care. In even more fragile condition is their elder brother, Jack (Michael O’Hagan), recently returned from decades of missionary service in Uganda and tainted with primitive rituals and beliefs that threaten the family’s standing in the community.

Michael’s mother, Chris (Precious Chong), the youngest Mundy, is torn between hard-headed realism and romantic longing in the face of a return visit from Michael’s likable but useless father, Gerry (Joseph Fuqua). With Kate on the edge of collapse, it’s up to the acerbic, chain-smoking Maggie (Bonnie Franklin, in a particularly effective turn) to provide the emotional heart of the clan.

Reuniting several members of the Rubicon’s hit revival of “The Rainmaker,” Jenny Sullivan’s staging strikes a similar tone of hope amid adversity, with various manifestations of dancing providing the wellspring of rejuvenation. Some rough edges are evident in the opening scenes as the performers try (a bit too hard) to establish their characters, pulling attention in too many directions at the same time, and some accent refinement would benefit the monologues. But the production soon hits its stride with a well-choreographed outburst of spontaneous pagan revelry, and never looks back.

*

‘Dancing at Lughnasa’

Where: Laurel Theatre, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura

When: Wednesdays, 7 p.m.; Thursdays, Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.

Ends: March 30

Price: $26 to $43

Contact: (805) 667-2900

Running time: 2 hours, 55 minutes