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~ interview bi a sa! Deborah ne

By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor

s we enter the final months of
A= semester, it’s once again

time for Douglas College’s
theatre productions to hit the stage.
The first of these productions, the
Tony-award winning play Dancing at
Lughnasa, premieres this Friday, and is
directed by Deborah Neville. Deborah
kindly took some time between
rehearsals to sit down and talk with us
in anticipation of the upcoming show.

As a director, are there any specific
types of works you prefer to stick to?

I’m usually drawn to a script that’s
naturalistic. Having said that, I then
usually try and find the most humour
in it, and really try and pull out those
humourous moments. Life in general is
totally funny; you have to look for all
those moments. -

Have any of the past works you’ve
directed influenced your take on
_ Dancing at Lughnasa?

Well, I think there’s two parts to
that answer. One is that, yes, every
single piece I’ve done influences the
next; it all becomes part of a body of
work.

I’ve just returned from living in
Scotland for 10 years. Part of what
8

drew me to this play—it’s an award-
winning play [by Brian Friel]—is the
cultural nuance from that part of the
world. I can’t pretend to understand all
the onion layers of 1930s Ireland, but
I can put in some of the flavours that
are that part of the world. Those islands
that make up the edge of Europe and
have a very particular way of thinking
and humour, and some very particular
angles.

You’ ve already touched on this, but
can you elaborate on why you chose
Lughnasa?

The central characters are five
sisters in their 20s to late 30s, and”
something that I find fascinating is
the idea that these five women, the
Mundy sisters, have lived together
their entire lives. So that deep level of
understanding — particularly between
women and sisters—[it’s] the challenge
of being able to make that read on
stage. There are so many nuances, so
many secrets and difficulties between
them; some are shown, some are
hidden; all the things that are revealed,
all the things enclosed—the actors
and myself are just working very hard
to find that level of intimacy. You get
two hours in a theatre to convince an
audience, so [we’re] trying to pull out
the things that will make that read.

We’re having a lot of fun doing that,
and I’m full of ideas for it, and the
actors just keep offering more and more
and more.

So that was what drew me to
[Dancing at Lughnasa]: working on the
human aspects of it, and it’s interesting
[in] that it also includes Irish history,
world history. It encapsulates the time
on the edge of the second world war,

a time when Ireland’s about to go into
the industrial revolution, but those are
all things that surround—well, we’re
always surrounded by the things that
are influencing us globally and locally.
The fascinating thing to me is that these
five sisters could be your next door
neighbours, your grandparents, your
great, great grandparents—the issues
for human beings who are intimate
together, a lot of those issues don’t
change no matter where you are in the
world, or in time.

Would you say that this is going to be
a traditional take on Lughnasa?
Brian Friel is such an expert
craftsman with words, and he has been
very specific with his stage direction
(there’s lots of it), so I actually didn’t
want to take it out of time [nor] place.
What I wanted to do was find the
amount of depth and richness that was
written into it — so yes, it is as it was

 

written. I think it would be foolish
to do otherwise because it is already
a masterpiece, so I am just trying to
work out what the ingredients are to
hopefully give it what it deserves.

So what can we expect to see in this
rendition then?

Well, I hope that you laugh; I hope
that you get a little taste of Ireland from
50 years ago. I hope you get reminded
a little about family life, your own
relationships with people, and maybe
even learn something about a type of
person or a stereotype of a person that
you maybe didn’t understand before.
You’re going to see a lot of what Brian
Friel wrote, but I hope that you take
away something that’s much more in
your gut or in your heart or throat;
something that’s a little more visceral,
and isn’t just cerebral.

What: Dancing at Lughnasa (presented
by the Theatre and Stagecraft
Departments)

Where: Douglas College, New West
campus, Rm. 4140

When: November 4—12 @ 7:30

p.m. (Noon and 2 p.m. matinees on
respective dates)

Cost: Students, Seniors and Matinees—
$8; General admission—$12