In 1934, the people of Inishmaan learn that the Hollywood director Robert Flaherty is coming to the neighboring island to film a documentary. No on...
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Mar 29, 2009
Jil
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Jan 25, 2011
Bruce
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This play, written by the young Irish playwright Martin McDonagh and produced in 1997, involves a limited set of characters on the island of Inishmaan, one of the three small Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. The sparsely populated islands have always been culturally isolated from Ireland as a whole and have been until recently been socially isolated as well, keeping to their traditional subsistence ways. McDonagh has written a work that is both poignant and rollickingly funny, a par
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Jul 26, 2010
Luis
rated it:
My introduction to Martin McDonagh was, like many others, the movie In Bruges (great movie btw). I went to buy In Bruges on Amazon, but it was not available yet for another couple months. Instead of pre-ordering, I checked out the "Similar Items", which directed me to his plays. I decided to check some of them out until the movie was available.
The Cripple of Inishmaan is the first play of the "Aran Islands Trilogy", and the first play of McDonagh's I've read. At the center ofMore...
Sep 23, 2011
Patrick
rated it:
I recently read the play The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh, one of my favorite contemporary playwrights. It is one of a trio of plays in the Aran Islands Triology (however, the third play was never produced). I think it is the last play of his that are available that I have read. I always enjoy his plays for the dialogue-he knows how to capture the singsong cadences of the Irish. This play is set in the remote west coast of Ireland in 1934 and premiered in 1996 in London. It is a tragi
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Oct 31, 2009
Eric
rated it:
One of my favorite movies of all times is In Bruges, which Martin McDonagh directed, and so I was curious about his previous work as a playwright. The Cripple of Inishmaan is full of the same sort of brilliant writing, dark humor, laugh-out-loud moments, but with an underlying melancholy and sadness treated with great humanity. I loved this play, and am going to read everything McDonagh has done. Now I just need to find a way to see some of his work on the stage. Given the content and the la
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Sep 22, 2011
Lanea
rated it:
Without Samuel Beckett, there would be no Martin McDonagh. Well, maybe Pinter and Durang deserve some credit too. Wait a minute . . . McDonagh has this amazingly Beckett-esque sense of comic timing and he uses it in plays that are much more accessible than most of Beckett's work. In this play, news that Robert Flaherty is on Inis Mor (literally "Big Island"*) making the film Man of Aran reaches Inis Meain ("middle island"**). A trio of the local kids decide to convince a f
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Dec 07, 2010
Rachelle
rated it: 
I love anything by Martin McDonagh. This is a hilarious rendering of despair. It's chock full of color, of life, of longing, as it parses the living dead, as these Irish folk seem to be. Yet they laugh. They joke. They taunt one another mercilessly - as though it were the primary Irish pastime. The verbal slings and slurs are so unexpected, it's like hearing unadulterated id.
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May 08, 2009
David
rated it:
Strange to rate a play, I suppose. That's really my only hesitance at rating it higher. I loved it. Hilarious, with lots of tasty dialogue and some great twists and turns along the way.
Highly recommended. I'm going to blaze through some more of these.
(McDonagh wrote _The Pillowman_, an awesome play I saw at ACT a few years back. He also wrote and directed _In Bruges_, which I found mostly successful but was also perhaps an example of a good artist still growing into worki More...
Highly recommended. I'm going to blaze through some more of these.
(McDonagh wrote _The Pillowman_, an awesome play I saw at ACT a few years back. He also wrote and directed _In Bruges_, which I found mostly successful but was also perhaps an example of a good artist still growing into worki More...
Sep 09, 2011
Anna Francesca
rated it:
There is much to discuss in this play, and nothing is as it seems. I love how the rural Irish setting seems like its own character. I didn't give it five stars, though, because I feel neutral about most of the characters. Even a flawed character, I want to pull for. There is an element of that for the protagonist, Billy, but he needs to be played by a very good actor to bring it beyond that.
May 16, 2011
Adam
rated it:
Not quite as violent or twisted as some of McDonagh's other work, though all his usual quirks and obsessions are certainly still present. The story itself feels a tad unfocused at first (though, as per usual, very funny and well written), until a breathtaking series of narrative rug-pullings in the final scenes give everything that came before unexpected resonance.
Sep 11, 2008
Priya
rated it:
I'm on a bit of a McDonagh kick at the mo (along with vampires) though McD falls into "work" (aka current paper on representations of terrorism in Irish literature) category. This was all right, not one of his best in my view (and has little to do with terrorism) --a cripple tries to get a job at a Hollywood production of life in the islands. It's got the McDonagh trademarks of excellent dialogue, a bleak outlook on life and a sharp eye for life in small towns. I read this (along with
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Aug 03, 2009
Josh
rated it:
McDonagh aims for the jugular and never holds back. But there's Irish sweetness and humor amid the cruelty. My favorite contemporary playwright.
Full review on my blog: http://livingonthegreenline.blogspot.com...
Full review on my blog: http://livingonthegreenline.blogspot.com...
Jan 26, 2009
Uglyoldwitch
rated it:
hmmm. What I've learned from this book... cats explode? Martin McDonagh's brain is a very scary place? This book is disturbing, violent, and hysterically funny. I adore this guy, I just wish everything didn't get so blood-splattered.
Mar 29, 2009
Dave
rated it:
McDonagh takes the sentimental treatment of many Irish stories, turns it on its head, and amps up the darkness at the heart of many Irish stories. This story, though not at all without heart, is the anti-Waking Ned Devine.
Jan 14, 2009
Steve
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I read this my freshman year of college (fall, 2004). I don't remember much of what happens in the play but I remember liking it and laughing a bit.
Dec 02, 2009
Sean
rated it:
Different but still dark. Not what i expected although it did follow form in having a well laid out twist at the end.
May 02, 2010
Spencer
rated it:
What I learned from this book: All Irish people are violent alcoholics, but it's okay because it's funny.
May 18, 2008
Tiffany
rated it:
Like all of McDonough's plays, The Cripple of Inishmaan made me really uncomfortable. His writing is brilliant, but the characters are brutal when speaking to (or about) the boy cripple. As dark as the play was at times, it was still hilarious and it made me want to either direct or be in the play ASAP. The scene toward the end with the brutal violence seemed out of place and was shocking, just like Beauty Queen of Leenane and Pillow Man.
Oh. I also learned two new Irish favorites: " More...
Oh. I also learned two new Irish favorites: " More...
Feb 24, 2008
Angiefm
rated it:
I saw the original production of this in New York at the Public, and that production came back to me as I read. Like McDonagh's other work, the violence is shocking but somehow right, and usually funny (though I never know how to feel about myself for laughing, and that is surely the playwright's aim). You get such a clear sense of the narrow parameters of these people's lives, and yet they themselves are more vivid than most other fictional characters, or real people, for that matter.
Dec 16, 2009
Caitlin
rated it:
A very depressing insight into the rugged island life of some poor Irish boggers. Breaks my heart into a thousand soggy peat moss shards.
Hope your spirits are stable and steady if you plan to delve into this Irish dirge. But, admittedly a great story. It helps if you have some prior knowledge (or even better insider experience) of the Irish. Otherwise, you might get lost in the jargon and references.
Hope your spirits are stable and steady if you plan to delve into this Irish dirge. But, admittedly a great story. It helps if you have some prior knowledge (or even better insider experience) of the Irish. Otherwise, you might get lost in the jargon and references.
Dec 16, 2009
chris
rated it:
The plot of this play is only superceded by its bitter, biting language. The characters are lovable and malevolent, and at least deep enough that you don't feel like it's a sitcom. And the ending might crush your soul a little.
Jun 30, 2008
Jack
rated it:
Ditto my review of The Lieutenant of Inishmore RE the author's gifts to you. A better book to start with if written violence makes squeamish, but you'll end up reading the other, anyway, after this.
Jul 12, 2008
Brett
rated it:
Very good, but not as solid as his other works. Nonetheless, everything McDonagh writes has some of the most brilliant dialogue you are likely to hear anywhere.
Feb 26, 2008
Chris
rated it:
Bound to be funnier on the stage than it is on the page, but even so it doesn't seem the equal of The Pillowman or even Lieutenant of Inishmore.
Jun 12, 2007
Morgan
rated it:
Ahhhhhhhh! This is another example of the great McDough showing life at its most painful and ironic.
Jan 07, 2009
I kind of forgot how to read plays - not sure this is where I should have started up.
