Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel seems the most actively repressed of the sisters in the play. She has existed as a church school teacher, under the thumb of many rules and the watchful eye of the local people. Kate is the first to attempt to stop something improper, from Rose’s escapade with the local boy to Father Jack’s falling from the church. Though Kate is a figure self repressed she too has a release during the dancing scene, last out and first to stop, but most intense as well. Kate’s dancing frees her from her shackles for a brief moment in time before the world sets back in on her.