The Lieutenant of Inishmore

I finally went to see this play after hearing only good things for some time. It lived up to it's reputation. It reminded me of Fargo in that you just have to embrace the world you're being thrown into. It's rough, it's amoral, VERY bloody, and very funny. The basic plot is that Padraic, a member of a splinter group from the IRA who's more than a little off with a tendancy to shoot first and ask questions later, has left his cat, his only friend in the world, in the care of his father while he travels Ireland torturing drug dealers. Unfortunately, the cat shows up dead in the middle of the road, and no one's sure how it died, or how to tell Padraic the news. The play starts off ridiculous and high energy, and gets bigger and louder and more out of control as it goes along until we end up with a stage literally dripping with blood. This play's by the same author (Martin McDonagh) as last year's The Pillowman which I liked, but I found this one a little more accessible, although no less bizarre. Peter Gerety (pictured above holding the dead cat), who plays Padraic's father, was my favorite performance; his understated one-liners were high-larious. I thought Domhnall Gleeson (who got a Tony nomination) was good, but a little over the top, especially at the beginning; I think he should have eased us a little more into this crazy play. Likewise, Allison Pill (Tony nominated) was good (she plays a girl from Padraic's home town whose own sensibilities just might match his vigor for violence), but I'm not sorry she didn't win. I saw her in a play last year (On the Mountain) last season, and I think she has a lot of potential, but she's not award caliber just yet. Still, the entire cast was very enjoyable, and I really admire their dying skills.
Yes Anne, the actors get so covered with blood (and good many of them do not live to the end of the show) that they can taste it, so I've heard they appreciate the chocolaty flavor of the bloody concoction. I've also heard it takes two full hours for the stage hands to clean the set every night. If you ever come to the library to watch it, we taped some of the cleanup after the credits. We are getting so flashy!