The Cripple of Inishmaan is the latest offering from Oscar-winning writer and director Martin McDonagh.
Famed for his work on the big screen (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, to name a few), McDonagh has now written the script for a new production of this dark comedy, which is Dublin's Gaiety Theatre's first self-produced play.
Here's what it's about:
'The Cripple of Inishmaan is set on the small Aran Islands community of Inishmaan off the West Coast of Ireland in 1934, where the inhabitants are excited to learn of a Hollywood film crew's arrival in neighbouring Inishmore (Inis Mór) to make a documentary about life on the islands. "Cripple" Billy Claven, eager to escape the gossip, poverty and boredom of Inishmaan, vies for a part in the film, and to everyone's surprise, he gets his chance.... or so some believe.'
And although the title may sound a bit colourless, we can assure you it's anything but.
Boasting a very impressive cast, two of the very familiar faces are Moone Boy's Ian O'Reilly (who played Martin Moone's buddy Padraic) and Derry Girl's Jamie Lee O'Donovan, who plays the mouthy, in-your-face troublemaker Michelle.
McDonagh's writing always requires special people to bring his characters to life, and he has landed on his feet with these two.
Jamie plays 'Slippy Helen', a feisty girl Billy has a crush on. And as we know, Feisty is a trait this young actress can deliver with ease.
Ian's now 19-years-old (believe it or not) and has lost those pudgy cheeks. This is making his stage debut, playing Helen's brother Bartley McCormick - the village idiot.
Speaking on The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show, O'Donnell explains their relationship, "Slippy Helen gives hi sorta the hardest time...he does her head in...it's that typical sibling relationship where they always hang out, they're really good friends, but she like just literally tortures him".
Both of them reveal how they are adapting to the stage and how impressed they are by McDonagh's writing skills, as O'Reilly says, "his writing is very rhythmic, so all the words are their for a reason and have to be almost said in the way that they're written exactly."
And the host couldn't let them go without chatting about the enormity of both Moone Boy and Derry Girls.
He plays a couple of clips to refresh people's memories of just how good each of their respective characters are. But Jamie's keeping tight-lipped on an movie news that may be happening. She's leaving that side of things to Tommy Tiernan.
The Cripple of Inishmaan opens at the Gaiety, Dublin, on Friday, January 25 and runs until March 9.
Thanks a million to @ianoreil and @JamieLeeOD for coming in to visit @IanDempsey on his birthday! You can catch The Cripple of Inismaan in The Gaiety from the 25th of January! pic.twitter.com/UFZfr1xcZL
— Today FM (@TodayFM) January 16, 2019
Check out the interview in full by pressing the play button in the image at the top of the page.
