CityLife

The Cripple of Inishmaan

I SAW my first Martin McDonagh play standing in a windy Heaton Park in the driving rain and I was hooked.

The weather seemed appropriate for his quirky, black humour heavily laced with macabre cruelty.

Manchester has already housed several McDonagh works and you may have seen some of his films like the Academy Award-winning  'Short' Six Shooter and, most recently, In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes.

Making movies is at the centre of this play, part of McDonagh's Aran trilogy and the fourth of his works presented by the excellent Druid Theatre Company from Galway which brings real authenticity to the piece.

It's 1934 and the island of Inishmaan is agog with news that Cripple Billy has been whisked off to Hollywood to be tested for a film role.

He leaves behind wounding insults about his condition and the mystery of his abandonment as a baby.

Eccentric

There's not one weak link in the terrific cast of eccentric, gossiping
villagers. Aaron Monaghan is outstanding as Billy, whose body may be crippled but not his mind.

Marie Mullan and Dearbhla Molloy are simply superb as his loving aunts Kate, who talks to stones and  Eileen, who eats all the sweets in the shop when she's upset.

David Pearce is excellent as johnnypateenmike, the village gossip who's been trying for years to get his mother to drink herself to death but who also hides a secret.

McDonagh's brilliant characterisations are combined with an apparently simple plot which unravels to reveal twists and turns, poetry and crudity, comedy and poignancy and is a joy from beginning to end.

This quality production is in the caring hands of Tony Award-winning
director Garry Hynes and is a thoroughly rewarding night at the theatre.

The Cripple of Inishmaan is on The Lowry until Saturday, November 8. £14 - £22. Call 0870 787 5780.

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