CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN

In 1934, the people of Inishman learn that the Hollywood director Robert Flahert
y is coming to the neighbouring island to film his documentary Man of Aran. No-o
ne is more excited than Cripple Billy, an unloved boy whose chief occupation has
been gazing at cows and yearning for a girl who wants no part of him. For Billy
is determined to cross the sea and audition for the Yank.



And as news of his
audacity ripples thorugh his rumour-starved community, The Cripple of Inishmaan
becomes a merciless portrayal of a world so comically cramped and mean-spirited
that hope is an affront to its order. With this bleak yet uproariously funny pl
ay, the young Anglo-Irish dramatist Martin McDonagh fulfills the promise of his
award-winning The Beauty Queen of Leenane while confirming his place in a tradit
ion that extends from Synge to O'Casey and Brendan Behan.