Dancing at Lughnasa

Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1998 Irish-British-American period drama film adapted from the 1990 Brian Friel play Dancing at Lughnasa, directed by Pat O'Connor. The film competed in the Venice Film Festival of 1998. It won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor in a Female Role by Brid Brennan. It was also nominated for 6 other awards, including the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Feature Film and the Best Actress Award for Meryl Streep. Cast and characters Meryl Streep – Kate Mundy Michael Gambon – Father Jack Mundy Catherine McCormack – Christina Mundy Kathy Burke – Maggie Mundy Sophie Thompson – Rose Mundy Bríd Brennan – Agnes Mundy Rhys Ifans – Gerry Evans Darrell Johnston – Michael Mundy Lorcan Cranitch – Danny Bradley Peter Gowen – Austin Morgan Dawn Bradfield – Sophie McLoughlin Marie Mullen – Vera McLoughlin John Kavanagh – Father Carlin Kate O'Toole – Chemist Reception and awards Although the film received average reviews (60% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 35 reviews), most critics praised the performances of the entire cast. Janet Maslin, critic of the New York Times said that "Meryl Streep has made many a grand acting gesture in her career, but the way she simply peers out a window in Dancing at Lughnasa ranks with the best. Everything the viewer need know about Kate Mundy, the woman she plays here, is written on that prim, lonely face and its flabbergasted gaze." Peter Travis of Rolling Stone magazine wrote that "a luminous cast reveals long-buried feelings. Meryl Streep finds the expansive soul behind prim schoolteacher Kate. And she is matched by Kathy Burke's bawdy Maggie, Brid Brennan's secretive Agnes, Sophie Thompson's slow-witted Rose and Catherine McCormack's bold Christina, who never married the father of her son."