The Cripple of Inishmaan

The Cripple of Inishmaan
By Martin McDonagh. Castle Hill Players. The Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill. June 4 – 26, 2021

The Cripple of Inishmaan is set in 1934 on a small island just off the west coast of Ireland.  Right from the get-go the clever set design captures the audience’s attention.  There is lovely stonework, lots of wooden panelling and an excessive number of bright green tins of peas on the shelves. There’s also an elevated bedroom which is cleverly recycled and even a small boat waiting at the jetty down stage left for one of the most pivotal scenes.

It would be very easy in a play like this for there to be wild inconsistencies with the Irish accents or even worse, accents dropping in and out like flies. This cast, however, maintained their accents throughout and not once did anybody drop out of character.

Jan Mahoney as Kate and Anna Desjardins as Eileen are warm and friendly to all who enter their local store.  Their love for their adopted son is palpable and they create a lovely, homely platform for the rest of the play to layer on to.

Next on stage is Dimitri Armatas who brings continuous energy and many laughs with his portrayal of the village ‘gossip rat’ Johnnypateenmike.  He is as annoying to the locals as he is informative and even his own mother refers to him as a “feckin eejit”. His insatiable appetite for knowing everybody’s business is a definite highlight of this production.

Poor crippled Billy is sensitively brought to life by Robert Snars and the audience couldn’t help but sympathise with his plight.  Snars maintains his physical disfigurements throughout and was thoroughly believable.

Aimee Honor-Eltham is perfectly cast as the precocious, flirtatious and overly-confident Helen.  She knows that she’s pretty, knows what she wants and won’t let anybody get in her way.  Her feistiness is beautifully paired with the innocence and relative calmness of her brother Bartley. Bartley’s main interests seem to be lollies and telescopes and Toby Rowe does a magnificent job of portraying this naïve and lovable young man.  Rowe Jnr is definitely an actor with a big future in front of him.  I’m excited to see what this young man does next.

Rowe Snr, (Steve), plays the local doctor who has his heart in the right place despite the best efforts of some of his patients to completely ignore his advice.  Jason Spindlow plays the quiet and mysterious Babbybobby who has a rather dark streak if people abuse either his patience or his generosity.

Last but certainly not least, Annette Emerton is nothing but hysterically funny in the small but important role of Mammy.  I found myself thinking that this would be a fun role for anybody like myself to play in the future.

This cast bounce off each other in all the right ways and the whole production is very slick and tightly rehearsed. The Cripple of Inishmaan still has two weekends to go so do yourself a favour and check it out.  It wouldn’t surprise me if this sells out and deservedly so.  A very enjoyable evening.

Fiona Kelly

Photographer: Chris Lundie

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