The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Noel Coward Theatre

Martin McDonagh once described his play, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, as “a violent play that is wholeheartedly anti-violence”.  An addendum to this should read that it is also hilarious, both visibly and because the plot, albeit ‘off the wall’ and script are incomparable.

No-one can dispute that this is comedy at its blackest.  How could that not be the case when the story is based around Mad Padriac (Aidan Turner), the sole member of his own Irish National Liberation Army splinter group who was deemed too mad for the IRA.  That’s not to say that Padriac isn’t without compassion, it’s just that it’s only visible when concerning cats, and one cat in particular, namely “Wee Thomas”.  Currently being looked after by his father, Donny (Denis Conway), Wee Thomas is Padriac’s only friend.  Well aware of this, three INLA members incensed by Padriac’s splinter group and intent on wreaking their revenge, lure him back home by battering the aforementioned moggy to death.

The play opens with Padriac torturing a local drug dealer, James (Brian Martin) strung up by his legs, the better to have his toenails unceremoniously removed.  His ordeal is temporarily halted when a phone call informs his perpetrator that his “Wee Thomas” is in a poor state of health.  Brought to his knees with grief, Padriac is offered veterinary advice, involving ringworm pellets from his torture victim. It’s only on his return home that Padriac realises his cat is a lost cause and no amount of pellets of any description will resurrect him.  Time for revenge and the fear that grips Donny and his ginger-mulleted young pal, Davey (Chris Walley) on the immediate return of the former’s prodigal son is completely founded.  Despite their cunning plan of disguising a ginger cat by polishing him with black boot polish, Padriac smells a rat (well boot polish actually) and it’s time for them to meet their maker.  What follows is a blood fest, but don’t let that put you off.  It’s delivered in such a farcical, laugh out loud way that only those suffering from S.O.H.F. (sense of humour failure) or utter despondency that their beloved Poldark could turn out so malevolent will be shocked into an early exit from the theatre.

There is a nod to female character content in the form of Mairead (Charlie Murphy), Davey’s sister, but at the risk of upsetting the L.G.B.T. community, she’s not your normal girlie girl.  Her idea of stating the case for the cessation of slaughtering animals for food is to shoot out the eyes of cows!  After all, what farmer could sell a blind one!  She is also a passionate advocate for a free Ireland, so Padriac and his ideals are quite a draw. They’re both cut from the same cloth and their relationship, built on the shared passion of a splinter INLA group is likewise broken due to their shared passion of felines.

The entire play mercilessly highlights McDonagh’s mockery of the politics of revenge.  The terrorists are shown to be inept and full of sentimental self-righteousness, with more than a hint of the psychopath.  After all, Padriac is a man overwhelmed by grief over the death of his cat but has no compunction about killing his father.  He sighs, “All I ever wanted was an Ireland free .. Free for cats to roam about”.  And the script is littered with delightful understatement.  None more so than Donny’s line when bloody mayhem has ensued, “It’s incidents like this that does put the tourists off Ireland”.

Michael Grandage directs the cast with sure fired accuracy, ensuring that McDonagh’s script loses none of its bite.  It helps that all the actors are exemplary and that Christoper Oram’s set couldn’t be more ‘bog Ireland’ if it tried.  Aidan Turner, wild eyed and blood spattered, makes for an unnerving Padriac but one who is also strangely innocent.   Who knows what a character who utters the line “You never let bygones be bygones you” when talking to Christy whose eye he shot with a crossbow, might do next?  What a good move on his part to leave the Cornish Hills for a while and return to his homeland.  He really isn’t just a pretty face.

Chris Walley, the actor playing young Davey is superb.  His ‘biog’

of  just one previous TV/Film performance, as he has just graduated from RADA, will surely ratchet up after this turn as the hapless young Davey.  Oh and what a stroke of genius to furnish him with a pink bicycle!

Denis Conway is a master at delivering McDonagh’s off the cuff witticisms, whilst Charlie Murphy couldn’t be better as the passionate but flawed adolescent girl.  The INLA men, Will Irvine, Daryl McCormack and Julian Moore-Cook, also play their part in ensuring that whether the laughs are involuntary during a shocking bit or joyous from yet another brilliant quip, they’re there nonetheless.

The futility of all the violence eventually becomes clear, but as it’s a spoiler alert my lips are sealed.  Suffice it to say that like everything else about this production, it is brilliant.