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Irreverence reigns amid torture and death
By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 09:05 a.m. EDT, Sep 30, 2008
How many ways are there to skin a dead cat?
That's not exactly the premise of Martin McDonagh's furiously funny, razor-sharp comedy The Lieutenant of Inishmore, but the subject matter comes pretty close at the Bang and the Clatter Theatre in Cleveland.
In this gleeful spoof of IRA-style violence, we're talking about scooping a dead cat's brains up from the floor and stuffing the poor furbag into a bicycle basket.
Don't worry; there's no real animal abuse in this black comedy. The story's ''brained cat,'' Wee Thomas, serves as ludicrous juxtaposition to the human torture and death central to this tale of murderous revenge.
This wickedly irreverent play is the funniest the Bang and the Clatter has offered since David Mamet's Romance, with the eight-member cast doing a perfect job of playing it straight under the dead-on direction of Sean McConaha.
Inishmore, set in 1993 on the Aran island of that name, is the second of two pieces about the Irish Troubles recently produced by BNC's Irish co-artistic directors, McConaha and Sean Derry. The last was the IRA drama Defender of the Faith by Stuart Carolan, set in Northern Ireland.
The Lieutenant of Inishmore is about the family and neighbors of ''Mad Padraic,'' the self-proclaimed lieutenant of an IRA splinter group who spends most of his time torturing enemies and planting bombs. His one soft spot is for kitty Wee Patrick, his best friend of 15 years.
Derry is positively ferocious as the threatening Padraic. This exceptional actor makes even stroking a dead cat look hilarious, all while his character's cohorts are hacking up human body parts center stage.
In this comedy, the running gags become so familiar, you soon feel the pathetically stupid characters on stage are like family.
D. Michael Franks has played a terrorist father in both of BNC's Irish plays, going from a heavy to an idiot. In Inishmore, his Donny's bickering dynamics with Ryan McMullen's teenager Davey are brilliantly funny. And McMullen's curly, girly, long red wig alone is enough to make you laugh out loud.
Playwright McDonagh, the England-born son of Irish expatriates, received five 2006 Tony nominations for Inishmore. His other Tony-nominated or Tony-winning plays are The Pillowman, The Lonesome West and The Beauty Queen of Leenane.
In this satire, everything's a fair target, from IRA-type torture methods to drug pushers to the Irish republic's tourism industry. It's a flawlessly written play — loaded with irony — that ties in every detail neatly and offers some great surprises.
All the irreverent touches are fun, from Derry's Padraic babbling on and on during a torture scene to the antics of one character trying to disguise a dead cat with shoe polish.
The controversial McDonagh has been both praised for capturing the black humor of modern Ireland and criticized for creating mocking caricatures of the Irish.
In Inishmore, he illuminates the self-perpetuating violence of terrorism. Not one character has a conscience in this bloodbath, so McDonagh also may be making a statement about both hypocrisy and misplaced moral indignation.
Actress Bethany Taylor is wonderful as Mairead, the tiny but fierce girl terrorist. McDonagh gives the play's gore a ''romantic'' twist between Mairead and Padraic. Taylor and Derry give finely focused performances as their characters' blood lust turns to physical lust.
In the fast-paced, intermissionless play, there's plenty of spurting blood, gunfire and choice Irish curse words. It's all handled so deftly, it just adds to the layers of humor.
Kerry Clawson can be reached at 330-996-3527 of kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
Details
• Comedy: The Lieutenant of Inishmore
• When: Continuing through Oct. 19, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
• Where: The Bang and the Clatter — Sometimes in the Silence . . . Theatre Company, 224 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
• Onstage: Sean Derry, Bethany Taylor, Ryan McMullen, D. Michael Franks, Daniel Taylor, Stuart Hoffman, Rick Heldenfels, Michael Danner
• Offstage: Martin McDonagh, playwright; Sean McConaha, director/props; Stephen Skiles, guest director; Rachel Lones, assistant director; Sarah Hyde, stage manager; Marcus Dana, set and lighting design/technical director; Daniel Taylor, sound design; Sean Derry and Marcus Dana, set construction
• Cost: $15; senior citizens and students, ''pay as you can''
• Information: 330-606-5317
How many ways are there to skin a dead cat?
That's not exactly the premise of Martin McDonagh's furiously funny, razor-sharp comedy The Lieutenant of Inishmore, but the subject matter comes pretty close at the Bang and the Clatter Theatre in Cleveland.
In this gleeful spoof of IRA-style violence, we're talking about scooping a dead cat's brains up from the floor and stuffing the poor furbag into a bicycle basket.
Don't worry; there's no real animal abuse in this black comedy. The story's ''brained cat,'' Wee Thomas, serves as ludicrous juxtaposition to the human torture and death central to this tale of murderous revenge.
This wickedly irreverent play is the funniest the Bang and the Clatter has offered since David Mamet's Romance, with the eight-member cast doing a perfect job of playing it straight under the dead-on direction of Sean McConaha.
Inishmore, set in 1993 on the Aran island of that name, is the second of two pieces about the Irish Troubles recently produced by BNC's Irish co-artistic directors, McConaha and Sean Derry. The last was the IRA drama Defender of the Faith by Stuart Carolan, set in Northern Ireland.
The Lieutenant of Inishmore is about the family and neighbors of ''Mad Padraic,'' the self-proclaimed lieutenant of an IRA splinter group who spends most of his time torturing enemies and planting bombs. His one soft spot is for kitty Wee Patrick, his best friend of 15 years.
Derry is positively ferocious as the threatening Padraic. This exceptional actor makes even stroking a dead cat look hilarious, all while his character's cohorts are hacking up human body parts center stage.
In this comedy, the running gags become so familiar, you soon feel the pathetically stupid characters on stage are like family.
D. Michael Franks has played a terrorist father in both of BNC's Irish plays, going from a heavy to an idiot. In Inishmore, his Donny's bickering dynamics with Ryan McMullen's teenager Davey are brilliantly funny. And McMullen's curly, girly, long red wig alone is enough to make you laugh out loud.
Playwright McDonagh, the England-born son of Irish expatriates, received five 2006 Tony nominations for Inishmore. His other Tony-nominated or Tony-winning plays are The Pillowman, The Lonesome West and The Beauty Queen of Leenane.
In this satire, everything's a fair target, from IRA-type torture methods to drug pushers to the Irish republic's tourism industry. It's a flawlessly written play — loaded with irony — that ties in every detail neatly and offers some great surprises.
All the irreverent touches are fun, from Derry's Padraic babbling on and on during a torture scene to the antics of one character trying to disguise a dead cat with shoe polish.
The controversial McDonagh has been both praised for capturing the black humor of modern Ireland and criticized for creating mocking caricatures of the Irish.
In Inishmore, he illuminates the self-perpetuating violence of terrorism. Not one character has a conscience in this bloodbath, so McDonagh also may be making a statement about both hypocrisy and misplaced moral indignation.
Actress Bethany Taylor is wonderful as Mairead, the tiny but fierce girl terrorist. McDonagh gives the play's gore a ''romantic'' twist between Mairead and Padraic. Taylor and Derry give finely focused performances as their characters' blood lust turns to physical lust.
In the fast-paced, intermissionless play, there's plenty of spurting blood, gunfire and choice Irish curse words. It's all handled so deftly, it just adds to the layers of humor.
Kerry Clawson can be reached at 330-996-3527 of kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
Details
• Comedy: The Lieutenant of Inishmore
• When: Continuing through Oct. 19, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
• Where: The Bang and the Clatter — Sometimes in the Silence . . . Theatre Company, 224 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
• Onstage: Sean Derry, Bethany Taylor, Ryan McMullen, D. Michael Franks, Daniel Taylor, Stuart Hoffman, Rick Heldenfels, Michael Danner
• Offstage: Martin McDonagh, playwright; Sean McConaha, director/props; Stephen Skiles, guest director; Rachel Lones, assistant director; Sarah Hyde, stage manager; Marcus Dana, set and lighting design/technical director; Daniel Taylor, sound design; Sean Derry and Marcus Dana, set construction
• Cost: $15; senior citizens and students, ''pay as you can''
• Information: 330-606-5317
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