Événement

The Cripple of Inishmaan

The Apron Theater Company was founded by Karla Baldwin, Hallie Flower, and Carrie Kidd. The Cripple of Inishmaan marks Apron's second production as the Next Stage Arts Project's "theater-company-in-residence" following its outstanding production of WIT in July, 2013. Said Next Stage board member Eric Bass "The collaboration between Next Stage and Apron Theater is a wonderful and important milestone in the evolution of our organization."

Set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland in 1934, The Cripple of Inishmaan is a strange, dark, and comic tale in the great tradition of Irish storytelling. As word arrives on the island of Inishmaan that the Hollywood film director, Robert Flaherty, will be coming to the neighbor island of Inishmore to film Man of Iran, the one person who wants to be in the film more than anyone else is young Cripple Billy (Henry Fitzpatrick), a disabled orphan boy whose chief occupation has been gazing at cows, thinking, and longing for a kiss from the young girl Helen (Livia Kelly), who mostly makes fun of him. The spirited bully Helen and her browbeaten simple-minded brother Bartley (Thomas Durnford) are also planning to cross the sea to Inishmore. All three of the young people convince BabbyBobby (Tim Ellis) into taking them on his boat to the filming location to audition for the film. The arrival of the news about the filming comes from the town gossip, JohnnyPateenMike (Michael Kennedy), who supports himself and his drunken mother (Jenny Holan) by collecting "payment in kind" from the villagers who hear his news. The town doctor (Jerry Levy) argues with JohnnyPateenMike about keeping his Mammy away from too much drink. As the story begins, we learn that the orphan Billy has been raised by two sisters, Eileen and Kate (Shoshana Rihn and Christopher Coutant). These "Aunties" run a small and orderly, but under-stocked country shop. As the story unfolds each character reveals their hopes and fears, their yearnings and their secrets. In Ben Brantley's 2008 review of the play he writes: "But character is not a fixed entity of Inishmaan. "Cripple" is driven by the inconsistencies of human behavior, which echo this equally sad and funny play's whiplash reversals of mood and fortune. The cast members admirably accept and convey their characters' paradoxical nature without making a big deal of it. For while you would assume that everyone in Inishmaan would know everyone else's business inside and out, people can still surprise one another."