Dancing at Lughnasa explores the fragile harmony among five grown sisters in rural Northern Ireland in 1936, juxtaposed against the realities of political and religious shifts and the oncoming industrial revolution. Reflected through the memory of Michael, the illegitimate son of one of the sisters, the story reveals undercurrents of desire and longing, interwoven with motifs of music, dancing, and a traditional pagan festival. Cutting between Michael’s adult and seven-year-old selves, Friel takes us back to the Ireland of Michael’s childhood and tries to come to terms with the changes in both family dynamics and Irish culture. On this gauzy screen of memory, caring family ties and nostalgia filter together like a pattern of light and shading in a woodland glen.