Billed as an offering from this company's Chestnuts wing, Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa—which debuted in 1990—earns its distinction as an Irish memory play more from charm than from age. Following the tribulations of the Mundy family in the fictional town of Ballybeg in 1936, this is an engaging piece well suited to this gifted ensemble.
With a wee tip of the hat to The Glass Menagerie, Donald Moore narrates a flashback-driven script as Michael, the illegitimate son of Christina Mundy and snake-charming local ladies man Gerry Evans. The story line of this couple (played with lovely chemistry by Heather Keller and Yancey Dunham) provides the greatest source of tension within the close-knit clan. Meanwhile, eldest sister Kate (played with appropriate rigidity by Mary Linda Phillips) grapples with her self-imposed sentence as surrogate mother and primary financial provider to her siblings.
A touchingly bittersweet alternative to the play's tension and angst comes in the performances of Jeanine Anderson and Kathie Barnes as sisters Rose and Agnes. The girls' mutually concealed dreams of romance never translate into reality, despite their best intentions as worker bees to sister Kate's queen. With subtle performances Anderson and Barnes fully convey the resulting weariness of their characters' lives.
Fortunately, playwright Friel had the good sense to inject a fair amount of much-needed humor. Jack, elder brother to the quintet of sisters, is a priest whose decades of African missionary work have left him bereft of his mental faculties. Through the talented portrayal offered by Walter Beery, Jack struggles for word choices, all the while marrying his Catholicism with pagan rituals, a practice that galls Kate to no end. For consistent comic timing, one need look no further than Mary Garripoli's interpretation of Maggie Mundy, the family peacemaker. Whether exhibiting a liltingly beautiful singing voice or an impish disposition, Garripoli steals virtually every scene she inhabits.
Director John Gallogly maintains an emotion-filled yet never maudlin atmosphere. Although Russell Boast's lighting was problematically spotty at the performance reviewed, scenic designer Jeff Rack's cottagelike dwelling is detailed and appealing.
Presented by and at Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, L.A. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Jan. 26-Mar. 11. (323) 851-7977. www.theatrewest.org