The Brian Friel Papers

should grow in joyousness

This note towards Dancing at Lughnasa (1990) dated 30 May 1989 contains a phrase that performance-maker Robbie Blake adapted for use as a direction for their piece ‘Running the Ending’. Here, Friel was alluding to a combination of the liberating qualities of dance and Fr. Jack’s paganism that allows the Mundy sisters to escape from the social, political, spiritual, and economic constraints that dominate their lives. Consequently, he felt that the play ‘should grow in joyousness’ rather than embracing a mood that anticipated the characters’ altogether gloomier ends.

From MS 37,104/1, National Library of Ireland; copyright Brian Friel Estate, reproduced by permission.

Transcription

30 May

People suddenly find the opportunity and the means to escape from imperial colonialism (of religion, politics, domesticity, convention etc.)

So they play should grow in joyousness

Running the ending

This is a film, directed by Robbie Blake, about exhaustion, self-expression and joyousness. Blake’s score uses a graphic notation to represent three states: run, reset/shake-out, dance.

“So [the] play should grow in joyousness” – Brian Friel

The Creative Process

Robbie Blake's blue notebook, 1

In this page from Robbie Blake’s project notebooks, Robbie adapts a phrase from Friel’s archives, ‘So the play should grow in joyousness’.

Portrait: Michelle O'Rourke

Michelle O’Rourke is a singer based in Dublin, Ireland.

The Creative Process

Filming 'Running the Ending', 18 April 2021

These photographs were taken by Jessie Keenan during and between filming sessions for Robbie Blake’s short film ‘Running the ending’ at the Museum of Literature Ireland on 18 April 2021.

The Creative Process

Robbie Blake interview, extract 1

Robbie Blake talks about the origins and development of their film ‘Running the ending’.