THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE at Berkeley Rep
(l to r) At Berkeley Rep, James Carpenter, Blake Ellis and Adam Farabee star in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, another bloody comedy from Obie Award-winning director Les Waters and Oscar-winning writer Martin McDonagh.Photo courtesy of mellopix.com
THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE, Written by Martin McDonagh, Directed by Les Waters. Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre,
510-647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org. April 17 –
AN IRISH VERSION OF THE DUCHESS OF MALFI
In John Webster’s 17th Century play, The Duchess of Malfi, five dead bodies pile up before the curtain descends and earlier, one character parades on stage carrying a man's leg over his shoulder. McDonagh can only come up with four bodies but you can count two dead cats that are integral to the plot, which makes one more than Webster. However, McDonagh upstages Webster with multiple body parts dripping blood piled on stage in the goriest scene you will ever witness.
Where Webster’s Duchess is a bloody drama, McDonagh’s Lieutenant is an all out bloody farce defined as broad satiric comedy characterized and improbable situations without the usual multiple doors opening and closing. In fact, it is a claustrophobic version of hell masquerading as an interior of an Irish cottage. Moreover, all this because of love for a cat(s) causing unabashed mayhem without conscience.
The setting is the
In the second scene, a warehouse, Padriac has suspended James (Daniel Krueger), by his feet from the ceiling and has cut off two toenails as part of punishing him for selling drugs to school kids. He is about to cut off one of James’ nipples, when he gets a cell phone call from Donny explaining the Wee Thomas is feeling poorly and his response, "I'm at work at the moment, Dad. Is it important?" He will be there the next day.
Back at the cottage, word has spread that Danny is responsible for the death of the cat. Enter Mairead (Molly Camp) Danny’s 16-year-old mad sister who has shot out the eyes of ten cows as her support of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) terrorism. Do not ask why. You will have to hear the convoluted explanation that McDonagh has written for her. Before Mairead can do harm to Danny, Christy (Danny Wolohan), a member of the IRA calls her off and confesses to bashing Wee Thomas’ head in to lure Padriac back home where he, Brendan (Rowan Brooks) and Joey (Michael Barrett Austin) can “off” him. It seems that Padriac has formed his own splinter group that is too violent for the parent organization and is giving the IRA a bad name!
Pradiac blows the brains out of the innocent now shoe-polish black orange tabby. He is about to shoot his father and Danny in the head when the cavalry trio of Christy, Brendan and Joey arrive to “take out” Padriac. Mairead comes to Padriac’s rescue with her trusty BB gun blinding the assassins. That leads to a violent shootout with the trio meeting their maker and Donny and Danny forced to dismember the bodies leaving the stage in an appallingly disgusting blood red. The dialog has to be heard to be believed, such as “It’s incidences like this that put tourist off
The acting is superb with James Carpenter leading the pack and Daniel Krueger getting a special award for his performance while dangling for 15 minutes with his head down and not missing a line. Les Water’s direction is outright brilliant and special awards go the production crew, designed by Antje Ellermann (sets), Anna R. Oliver (costumes), Alexander V. Nichols (lights), Obadiah Eaves (sound), Dave Maier (fight director), Lynne Soffer (dialect coach), and Tolin FX (special effects).
This play won the Olivier Award for best comedy in 2001 and nominated for other awards on and off Broadway. Often there is a full house standing ovation for Berkeley Rep plays but “The Lieutenant of Inishmore only received a standing ovation from half of the audience. The running time is a scant two hours with intermission that is more than enough for an evening of bloody farce/comedy/satire. However, it is well worth seeing.
Kedar K. Adour, MD