CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN till 7 June
Leicester
THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN: Martin McDonagh
Leicester Haymarket Studio: Tkts 0116 253 9797
Runs: 2h 45m, one interval, till 7 June
Review: Rod Dungate, 27 May 2003
Incredibly funny, angry, a multi-layered play with killer one-liners
McDonagh has the enviable gift of making writing seem easy – whether it's his plotting about-turns, his characters or the killer one-liners that fly around. There is a palpable anger in his voice but it never smothers a buoyant personality. His plays are, as a result, dangerous, multi-layered and incredibly funny.
INISHMAAN: young Billy, cruelly called Cripplebilly by those around him (cruelly to us, not so much to them) is fed up with the emptiness of his life and angered by the jibes of those around him. The film Man of Aran is being shot and Billy, together with three others, sets out to become an actor. Billy goes to America for a screen test, then returns.
Man of Aran did not represent life on the Aran isles – it represented a romantic version of a much earlier life. Much of McDonagh's anger is directed at just this romanticisation. He peoples this play more than others with stock drama-folk-lore characters. Characters from Synge, Yeats and others – great writers who have themselves, ironically, fallen victim to the folk-lore industry that in McDonagh's view is conservative and dangerous.
And this is his great coup. His characters are weird, cruel, ignorant, mad, drunk, sex-driven (oh the joy of all those priest jokes), inward looking, self-serving. But funny, so very funny. He writes three-dimensional satire.
Paul Kerryson deftly handles the play. The humour is sometimes bold and brash, at other times it stems from long quietnesses or extended pieces of stage business. The pace is unhurried but never slow. His company create characters larger than life enough to bring out the comedy but not so large they become empty caricatures.
Tom Farrelly is terrific as Billy. Physically the role is demanding but he carries it with dignity, accuracy and gigantic commitment. At close quarters (Haymarket studio) he is a vulnerable open book to us. Geraldine Fitzgerald and Paddy Glynn (shopkeeping sisters Eileen and Kate) form a delightful double act – revealing a comedic vein from deep within. And what could you say of Veronica Leer's Helen? She's like a ball of fire – ever on the go, frightening in her commitment to violence and little beyond. And a smile that charms and chills in equal measure.
Mammy: Nora Connolly
Babbybobby: Timothy Deenihan
Billy: Tom Farrelly
Johnnypateenmike: Russell Dixon
Eileen: Geraldine Fitzgerald
Kate: Paddy Glynn
Helen: Veronica Leer
Doctor McSharry: Paul Lloyd
Bartley: Patrick Moy
Director: Paul Kerryson
Design: Kate Unwin
Lighting: Ciaran Bagnall
Sound: Simon Moloney
2003-05-29 10:21:48