McDonagh’s Irish theater

“Bloody Hell”  is as concise as we can be in describing this play by Martin McDonagh.

“Bloody Hell”  is as concise as we can be in describing this play by Martin McDonagh. The bad boy of Irish theater loves the macabre, and the rag-tag Philadelphia Irish Theater Festival, with seven theater companies in seven locations, staging three of his works. Like the smashing of freshly disinterred bones in “The Skull In Connemara” (which just closed at Lantern Theater), “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” splatters the stage with blood. Rivers of it, mostly by the hand of an insanely homicidal soldier of the Irish National Liberation Party. His feeling for mayhem is stronger than his feeling for the cause, so when his cat-sitters discover his fluffy pride and joy has died, they have to find a way to mask the feline corpse to avoid the same fate on themselves. McDonagh risks allowing Grand Guignol spectacle to overwhelm the emotional and narrative value of the work, but such are the risks when you write a play in blood.

 

“The Lieutenant of Inishmore”Feb 17 – March 13Theatre ExilePlays and Players Theater1714 Delancy Streetwww.theatreExile.org