Dundalk IT students to stage Dancing at Lughnasa in An Táin Arts Centre

Final year Theatre and Film Practice students at DkIT are set to stage Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa from 19th – 21st March in An Táin Arts Centre, in Dundalk.

Shows will take place at 7.30pm nightly, with a school’s matinee on the 20th March at 10.30am.

Director Laura Bowler said “We are delighted to bring this fantastic production to An Táin Arts Centre, marking the first time the DkIT Theatre cohort will present their graduate show there.

This collaboration has already enriched our students’ experiences, including a graduate residency with the centre, and now offers current students the opportunity of performing their final show on a professional stage- an exciting culmination of their training.

The audience are in for a fantastic treat as the cast will bring the story to life through rich performances and a wonderful backstage and technical crew.”

Paul Hayes, Director at An Táin Arts Centre said "Dancing at Lughnasa holds a special place in my heart, it’s the first show I was lighting designer on way back in 1996 and I chose a line from the play for my father’s eulogy ‘Dancing, as if language no longer existed, because words were no longer necessary’. I am really looking forward to seeing what the talented students of DkIT will do with the play.”

Directed by lecturers Laura Bowler and Eva Urbane Devereux, Dancing at Lughnasa follows the Mundy sisters as they confront uncertainty, change, and the question of what to hold on to, and what must be let go. The play explores the tension between tradition and modernity through the return of Father Jack, whose unconventional behaviour unsettles his family’s place in the community.

DkIT has a long-standing connection with this iconic play, first staged as part of the Cultural Studies course in the 1990s, and later by Performing Arts students in the 2010s. Its themes remain deeply relevant today: the impact of change, emigration, and the pressures of a shifting job market, parallels that resonate with modern students as they navigate the realities of AI, globalisation, and the pursuit of fulfilling work and life paths.