10 Apr 2025
The Company of Ten bring the Aran Islands to the Studio of the Abbey Theatre with Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan.
Oscar winning dramatist Martin McDonagh, writer of In Bruges, The Banshees of Inisherin and The Beauty Queen of Leenane, shows his trademark absurdist dark humour to brilliant effect in The Cripple of Inishmaan.
Set in 1934 on the smallest of the Aran Islands, The Cripple of Inishmaan is a play of big skies, wide seas but small horizons for the ambitions of the close knit community eking out a meagre living from a poor land. The drama follows Billy Claven, a disabled orphan who longs to escape this small-town existence. When a Hollywood filmmaker arrives on a neighbouring island to shoot a documentary, Billy sees his chance to break free, only to find that dreams don’t always lead where we expect.
Director Jenny Kilcast said: “I’ve spent months telling anyone who’ll listen that The Cripple of Inishmaan is not a comedy, it’s a tragedy. Why then, have I spent so many rehearsals clutching my (recently broken) ribs and laughing till it hurts?
“Simply because it manages to be a very funny tragedy, handled with skill by a group of talented actors, who understand that both the comedy and tragedy stem from the fact that Billy comes from an incredibly tight knit/claustrophobic, loving/suffocating, straightforward/simplistic community which will never see past the “cripple” part of the name they’ve imposed on him.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with all of them, so I hope you’ll come along and enjoy their efforts as much as I have.”
Performances are from Friday and Saturday April 25-26 at 8pm, Sunday April 27 at 2.30pm, and Tuesday to Saturday April 29 to May 3 at 8pm.
To book tickets please go to www.abbeytheatre.org.uk or call the box office on 01727 857861.
