Hello Beautiful People,
I recently had the privilege of seeing The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Cort Theatre, and it was delightful. Wonderful. Poignant. Surprising…and FUNNY. Oh, was it funny. I didn’t expect it to be so funny! I mean, it has the word cripple in the title. How could there be humor in that? How could their be classy humor in that?
But, Mr. McDonagh manages to expertly fuse together both the beauty and banter of life. The sadness. The joy. The dark. The light. He does it in a way that makes you forget about Billy’s obvious physical limitations, and instead you find yourself focusing on his spirit. His zest for life. You find yourself finding relating to his romantic woes, his relationships with his aunts, and his desire to break free of the box that the town has so firmly placed him in.
Radcliffe does a brilliant job. Brilliant. Not once do you find yourself reminiscing of Harry Potter, and believe me, that’s the highest compliment. His physical acting, his accent work, and his connection with the character is absolutely phenomenal.
Set on the remote island of Inishmaan off the west coast of Ireland, word arrives that a Hollywood film is being made on the neighboring island of Inishmore. The one person who wants to be in the film more than anybody is young Cripple Billy (Radcliffe), if only to break away from the bitter tedium of his daily life.
Will Billy get his big break? Will he leave Inishmaan for the Hollywood Hills forever?
You’ll have to head down to the Cort to find out; but, know this – the writing is phenomenal, the scenery is stunning, the ensemble is cohesive, (direction by Michael Grandage), and I promise you it’ll be one of the best evenings you spend at a theater.
Live, Love, Learn,