The Cripple of Inishmaan

The year is 1934. In the centre of Europe Adolf Hitler carries out a series of political executions in the ‘night of the long knives’, across the Atlantic Alcatraz is commissioned as a working prison and Einstein is busy interpreting quantum physics for the world. Mid-way between the two Martain McDonagh’s fey Ireland is gripped by a feud sparked by a goose’s biting of a cat and tales of sheep born with no ears. And so framed in air of pure paddywhackery an audience is brought to a three-mile long stretch of land known as the Island of Inishmaan, at a moment of great historical importance, to laugh at the simple Irish folk staring at cows and talking to stones.

The splendid Gaiety theatre, a picture from ceiling to stage curtain, is transformed to the deliberately unreal and imagined McDonagh land, where clerical child abuse, physical violence and cruelty are nonchalantly dealt with. The excitement starved inhabitants of this land casually deal with these blemishes of Irish society and with the desperation bred by rural boredom through the hoarding of secrets and kissing of boys. The island dweller’s hunger for diversion is the making of JohnnyPateenMike (Dermot Crowley) who, like his creator, knows that arrangement is everything in telling a story and brings tales of thrilling pursuits around the island. Only the lead Cripple Billy (Tadhg Murphy) looks to flee away from this land of petty feuds and thoughtless cruelty, and uses the Hollywood fever epidemic brought on by Robert Flaherty’s filming of “Man of Aran” as his way out.

The play opens with the franchise-like image of an Irish shop, thanks to set designer Francis O’Connor, akin to the black and white photos in Irish pubs around the world. The widowed and withered double act of Aunt Kate (Ingrid Craig) and Aunt Eileen (Dearbhla Molloy) stand like statues in front of shelves of out-of-date Odlums and Bachelor beans. Through their heavy Irish accents they set the scene for humour to take the foreground over the potential darkness of the plays earlier productions, playing for easy laughs and satirising Irish folk. As the scenes change the set opens and closes like an elaborate accordion, and the audience is introduced to a quaintly clad cast that give just the right texture and colour to the home spun Irishness of the set design.

Tadhg Murphy manages to transform himself into a pretzel-bent Billy and has to be commended for the quality of his acting - to hear someone drop a coin in a such a large venue is quite a feat but when it happened during Cripple Billy’s prayer scene it’s a testament to how engaged the audience were in his performance. Dermot Crowley’s execution of Irish spinster JohnnyPateenMike flawlessly fits the bill and his interaction with Mammy O’Dougal (Nancy E Caroll) is one of the more entertaining scenes of the show. The dynamics of Slippy Helen (Clare Dunne) and Bartley (Laurence Kinlan) are sometimes unnecessary and the symbolism behind scenes such as the egg breaking is lost on the audience as it’s performed like a D’Unbelievables sketch. BabbyBobby (Liam Carney), Aunt Kate (Ingrid Craig) and Aunt Eileen (Dearbhla Molloy) also succeed in their broad-humour interpretation of back-ward Ireland and put in strong performances; the only biteen of a disappointment is Dr McSharry’s (Paul Vincent O Connor) jarring Arnold Schwarzenegger version of an Irish accent.

McDonagh, the master of gory Irish stereotyping, once again proves himself a clever storyteller with a razor-sharp sense for capturing both the humour and sadness of people trapped in lives devoid of social and cultural stimulus. Sadly some of the darkness is sacrificed for humour by director Gary Hynes, most probably tendering for the international audience set for the Druid and Atlantic Theatre Company’s co-produced revival. The 2008 production has already won nine major international awards including Outstanding Director, Best Production and Outstanding Ensemble, and this rejuvenation is set for an extensive tour visiting Dublin, Galway and Roscommon. And is set for 132 performances over 22 weeks in America, visiting Los Angeles, Washington DC and Chicago in the longest American tour by an Irish theatre company since the 1930’s. The play is planned to drop the final curtain on the island of Inis Meain in on 26^th of June in a fitting end to the island’s tale.

The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Gaiety Theatre 21 February - 6 March 2011, written by Martin McDonagh and directed by Gary Hynes, set and costume design by Francis O’Connor, lighting design by Davy Cunningham and sound design by John Leonard. With Tadhg Murphy, Dermot Crowley, Paul Vincent O’Connor, Liam Carney, Nancy E. Carroll, Ingrid Craigie, Clare Dunne, Laurence Kinlan, Dearbhla Molloy.