Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa has been hailed as a masterpiece and one of the finest plays of the 20th Century.

Running at Theatre by the Lake from March 28 to April 19, the Keswick theatre’s marketing manager Rachel Swift says the only problem for those in search of tickets was the title.

“It is a really difficult word to pronounce,” explained Rachel.

“We have tried to help by providing a definition on all its publicity.

“But that hasn’t helped callers at the box office who try to get their teeth round a difficult Irish word that has both a silent g and a silent h.

“Some have slightly misread the title; others have gone for a word that looks a bit similar.

Rachel said staff had been been asked for tickets for - Dancing at Lasagne; Dancing at Lufthansa; and Dancing at Leicester.

She added: “Many callers have avoided the problem by asking for tickets for ‘that play about dancing’ or ‘that Irish play in the main house’ or ‘that play that isn’t the one in the studio.’ “A helpful hint is say it as ‘Loo-nas-ah.’”

The acclaimed Irish writer’s piece won four major awards for best play when it was first performed – including both the Olivier and Tony awards. It also appears on the National Theatre’s list of the best plays of the 20th Century.

Lughnasa is an ancient pagan harvest festival. In Ireland it is traditionally a time for dancing and courtship, with couples pairing off to walk in the hills and pick bilberries.

Friel’s play follows five sisters through the festival of Lughnasa in the summer of 1936. They are all unmarried - unusual for that time - and live in rural Donegal with their young nephew Michael, the ‘lovechild’ (as he’s referred to in the play) of sister Chris.

Michael’s father, Gerry, is a loveable but unreliable Welshman who occasionally appears with promises of marriage to Chris and a bike to Michael – both of which fail to materialise.

Dancing at Lughnasa is a beautiful and nostalgic story based on Friel’s own experiences. It’s a bittersweet experience, with dancing and laughter posed against the difficulties of reality and adapting to a changing world.

The play is being directed by Mary Papadima.

In the build-up to opening night, two members of the Keswick cast took off at their own expense to a remote district of Donegal, where the play is set. The theatre’s literary consultant David Ward also went along, and spent two days in the manuscripts department of the National Library of Ireland.

Actors Isabella Marshall and Laura Darrell play Chris and Agnes, two of the five Mundy sisters who live together in the fictional village of Ballybeg.

Friel based Ballybeg on the real Donegal village of Glenties where his mother, her four sisters and brother, grew up. Isabella and Laura hatched their plan for a research trip while members of the 2013 summer company at Theatre by the Lake. They wanted, they said, to “retreat into the world of the Mundy sisters.”

Meanwhile, David discovered that more than 800 items of Friel’s notes on Dancing in Lughnasa had been collected in his papers in the National Library of Ireland.

“I knew I had to go and take a look,” said David. “I thought I was likely to find information for a good programme note. But I was amazed when I opened the first file of papers to see Friel’s creative process in action. It was like looking directly into his brain.”

Box office 017687-74411.