from BJ Jones, Director

As we head into our last production of the season, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, I dropped off at the shop to see how our production manager Chris Fitzgerald was coming with our set, designed by Tony and Olivier Award winner Todd Rosenthal. Todd has done many sets for us, including A Skull in Connemara, Sky Girls, Rounding Third, and many more that neither of us remember!

This set is reminiscent of Skull‘s in that it is on a rake – that is, it pitches from upstage to downstage, giving the landscape of the play and Inishmore the surreal quality that the play’s tone demands.

Though the play is realistic, (some will cry maybe hyper-realistic,) it is also a fable for McDonagh’s underlying observations about the pointlessness of terrorism and random violence both in Ireland and in countries where such activities are rampant.

Todd’s set is evocative of the world on a tilt, where balance is hard to maintain, and where the twee Irish stereotype is sliding off the earth, crashing into a harsher realism.

Todd is wonderful to work with, no nonsense, generous and outsized. His work is reflective of his personality.

We start rehearsal on April 6th. I can’t wait. I’ve been wanting to do this play since I saw it in London, in the Pit at the Barbican. I’d never seen anything like it on stage. Your eyes will pop out!