The Lieutenant of Inishmore

‘There’s more than one way to skin a theatrical cat; and McDonagh’s chosen weapons are laughter and gore… Pushing theatre to its limits, McDonagh is making a serious point… a work as subversive as those Synge and O’Casey plays that sparked Dublin riots in the last century’ *Guardian* ‘A brave satire… Swiftianly savage and parodic… with explicit brutal actino and lines which sing with grace and wit’ *Observer* Who knocked Mad Padraic’s cat over on a lonely road on the island of Inishmore and was it an accident? He’ll want to know when he gets back from a stint of torture and chip-shop bombing in Northern Ireland: he loves his cat more than life itself. *The Lieutenant of Inishmore* is a brilliant satire on terrorism, a powerful corrective to the beautification of violence in contemporary culture, and a hilarious farce. It premiered at the RSC’s The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, in May 2001. Commentary and notes by Patrick Lonergan