Five months ago I drove to Boston in the snow to see the first stop on the U.S. tour of the Druid theater company’s “Cripple of Inishmaan”, and it was almost impossible to imagine that come June we would be reuniting in New Haven for the close of the “Cripple” tour. Over these past months the company has performed at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and all points in between. And today, they arrive in New Haven and begin loading in to the University Theatre! We open the production on Wednesday night, June 15, and this is one of the festival’s great highlights for 2011.
The play itself is deliciously dark and funny, a look at small-town life that is simultaneously scathing and loving. For those of you familiar with the work of playwright and screenwriter Martin McDonagh, this delicious absurd humor and glimpse at the underbelly of community will come as no surprise. The acting is pitch-perfect, and from the moment when local gossip JohnnyPateenMike enters the stage with three pieces of news to share, it’s clear that we are in the hands of theatrical masters.
Performances run Wednesday June 15 through Sunday June 19—don’t miss the final performances of this historic tour, right here in New Haven!