LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE: McDonagh, RSC at the Garrick, London till November
THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE: Martin McDonagh
Royal Shakespeare Company
Garrick Theatre
Runs 2h, one interval, till November 2002.
7.30pm Monday to Saturday
Matinee 2:30 Wednesday and Saturday
TICKETS 0870 890 1104
Review Emma Dunford, 21st June 2002
Brutal and bloody with a poignant political undertone, so why can’t you stop laughing out loud?
In the aftermath of September 11th, McDonagh's black, bloody and barbaric comedy is ruthlessly and brutally topical, yet simultaneously it places our morals under scrutiny, as the auditorium peels with laughter at what can never be considered a very funny subject. Irish terrorism is depicted void of any emotion, macho in the extreme and poignantly pointless, the death of an Irish cat having more impact on our senses than the three carved up corpses strewn across the blood-washed stage.
The play is unfailingly funny however and despite bestowing a bleak guilt amongst its audience – who wouldn’t feel remorse when giggling uncontrollably at a man having his nipples extracted with a razor, at a ginger cat being painted black with boot-polish in a desperate attempt to make it look like a black cat with its brain smashed in, or at two delirious men happily sawing through the bloody sinews of three bodies strategically lying in pieces on their kitchen floor? – it does serve a very pointed political purpose. The dark satire is a masterfully engineered exclamation, stating with no hint of subtlety how terrorism in any form achieves absolutely nothing.
What could be unnerving is its affirmation, or re-affirmation, of a belief that both established terrorist groups along with their splinter counterparts are homelands for psychopaths to roam free. Mad Padraic, too mad for the IRA and acclaimed Lieutenant of the INLA splinter group, rushes home on account of his ill cat, Wee Thomas, only to find the poor friendly puss dead.
What ensues is a display of bloody masochism, victory falling on a teenage girl whose claim to fame involves blinding a field of cows with her rifle from an impressive distance of sixty yards! – Ironically a political demonstration about the cruelty of the meat trade. The terrorists lie in a hacked up blood-splattered heap, all because of the death of a cat, which makes a brilliant live appearance in the final scene claiming the title of star of the show!
The cast are impressive and unrelentingly entertaining, their perfectly timed humour adding the required light relief from the sinister undertone prevailing. A fantastic performance – politically adroit and oppressively callous – but be sure to take a cushion if the sight of blood turns your stomach. The corpses are certainly gruesome!
Davey: Domhnall Gleeson
Donny: Trevor Cooper
Padraic: Peter McDonald
James: Paul Lloyd
Mairead: Elaine Cassidy
Christy: Peter Gowen
Joey: Glenn Chapman
Brendan: Luke Griffin
Director: Wilson Milan
Designer: Francis O’Connor
Lighting Designer: Tom Mitchell
Sound: Matt McKenzie
Rod Dungate's review of the Stratford production is in our archive.
2002-06-30 09:50:48