Thursday, April 10, 2025

Dreary Drama

 




The play Dancing at Lughnasa, a biographical work by Brian Friel, was described as a “lyrical, effervescent portrait of five fierce sisters holding onto each other through the joys and sorrows of life in rural Ireland.”



          In reality, when we saw it last night, we found it to have more sorrow than joy and, although it was very  well-acted, a bit of a downer.







  


 

       It was staged at the Asolo Theater, a lovely reproduction building which sits outside the grounds of the Ringling Museum complex in Sarasota, and which includes an art museum, a circus museum, and Ca’D’zan – the home of John and Mabel Ringling. Any one of these are worth the trip.



 



 We try to make it to at least one performance at the Asolo when come, if only to enjoy the beauty of the theater itself.

5 comments:

  1. I am glad you went and shared some of the beauty of the theatre. These days my wussy self tries to avoid downer productions.

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  2. Maybe the description should have read: "the joys and sorrows of life in rural Ireland in the 1930s", and it may have been more to the point. I've seen the play advertised in 1999 in Dublin as "tragic" and found it was incredibly sad and heartbreaking. The movie version, also from 1999 or thereabouts, is excellent despite the fact that Meryl Streep has to struggle with an Irish accent.

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    Replies
    1. My goodness. I’d forgotten about the movie.

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  3. It sounds worthwhile, but I am trying not to get myself into any sad stuff right now.

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