Irish Blood Bath Ensues in ‘Inishmore’

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Arts & Living(www.emorywheel.com)

Cat slaughter is not a common theme for comedy, but Theater Emory’s production of “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” turns feline massacre into a riotous, gory comedy that had the almost-packed Mary Gray Monroe theater audience laughing as they left their seats.

The play opens with young Davey, a character played impeccably by College sophomore Cody Read, discovering the corpse of Wee Thomas, a cat that had been killed on the side of the road.

He brings the body to Donny, the person he presumes to be the owner of the cat, but learns that the cat in fact belongs to Padraic, a member of the Irish National Liberation Army, which he joins after being kicked out of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) for being “too violent.”

Donny and Davey then scramble to cover up the feline fatality before Padraic’s return.

“It was so violent,” College junior Jenny Fernandes said. “Just so Irish.”

Not only was the cast armed with precise Irish accents, but in true Irish style, the play was bloody and brutal when it came to violence.

Whether it was chopping up corpses or rolling cat heads across the floor of the stage, director Donald McManus wasn’t afraid to go gory It’s a necessity when dealing with Irish drama.

“It’s funny ’cause people were willing to get up and argue about the stupidest things,” College junior Timothy Harland said. Harland played Joey, a supporting character in the play. “Killing a cat or shooting someone in the eyes wasn’t a big deal at all compared to the ‘more important things’ like honor.”

Even though the play was a bloodbath, it was entirely a comedy. Like the Irish have done for years, the actors used humor as a cure for the carnage. Tim McDonough had the audience rolling in their seats from his opening “feck”-filled warning up until his last few lines.

Professional actor Mark Cabus, College junior Jake Krakovsky and Harland also amused the audience by showing them what the IRA would have been like if it had let in the Three Stooges.

Bobby Jones Scholar Jonathan Durie played the maniacal Padraic comically, torturing drug dealers with ease, yet reaching near tears when he hears that his cat doing “poorly.”

Don’t be too quick to dismiss the deeper meaning of play because of the light tone the cast and crew take.

“I want the audience to walk out wondering, was it okay for us to laugh at that? Maybe?” Harland said.

Though the language stays casual, the lines are filled with allusions to Irish history and Irish nationalist ideals. There are many metaphoric lines that an attentive audience member can catch.

“The Lieutenant of Inishmore” will be playing from Oct. 5 to Oct. 8 in the Mary Gray Monroe Theater, so make sure you catch some of the bloodshed before it’s gone.