Deep within the brutalist beauty of the National Theatre on London’s Southbank, Siobhán McSweeney has been dancing the morning away, under the watchful eye of superstar choreographer Wayne McGregor.
“We are putting the dance in the Dancing at Lughnasa,” McSweeney says, as she enters our interview room on the fourth floor of this modernist maze. McSweeney and a cast including Derry Girls co-star Louisa Harland and Father Ted’s Ardal O’Hanlan are just weeks from opening night on the Olivier Theatre stage. For the second time in her career, McSweeney plays Maggie – one of the five Mundy sisters in Brian Friel’s classic.
“I did it well over a decade ago, playing the same part in Birmingham Rep. It was marvellous but I knew there were bits of the character I couldn’t understand because I hadn’t lived enough,” she says. “I always knew in my heart of hearts that I would play Maggie three times. So there’s another time after this. It’s one of those weird things you just know, you know? Because Maggie speaks to me in a very particular way.”
The script for director requires McSweeney to produce some seriously manic movements. “She dances alone – a white-faced, frantic dervish,” is just one of her stage directions.
