Druid and Atlantic Theater Company: Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan March 10, 2011

Garry Hynes, director

Four shows:
Thursday, March 10 | 8 pm
Friday, March 11 | 8 pm
Saturday, March 12 | 8 pm
Sunday, March 13 | 2 pm

It’s 1934, and news is thin on the island of Inishmaan. Then word arrives that a Hollywood filmmaker is coming to a neighboring island to shoot a movie, and excitement ripples through the sleepy community. For Billy Claven, a crippled orphan, the film provides an opportunity to get away from his bleak existence. He auditions for a part in the film and, to everyone’s surprise, gets his chance. The Cripple of Inishmaan is “a break-your-heart, cruelly funny evening directed with an exhilarating ruthlessness and acted with a bracing lack of sentimentality.” (The Guardian) The second play in Martin McDonagh’s “Aran Islands” trilogy, it is infused with his trademark humor, rich with macabre cruelty, and teeming with eccentric island characters from Billy’s “Aunt Kate,” who talks to stones to gossip monger “JohnnyPateenMike,” who attempts to get his elderly mother to drink herself to death. Ireland’s acclaimed Druid Theater Company makes its UMS debut with this 2008 production.

Official Website: http://www.ums.org/s_current_season/artist.asp?pageid=621