The Cripple of Inishmaan

Martin McDonagh is now a Hollywood heavyweight with films such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and In Bruges to his name, but to theatregoers he will always be associated with his Irish plays, written as he was just starting out. The Cripple of Inishmaan is the first in his Aran Island Trilogy (followed by The Lieutenant of Inishmore and the unpublished The Banshees of Inisheer) and follows 17-year-old disabled orphan Billy Claven. Raised by his peculiar adoptive aunts and derided and bullied by his peers, Billy’s life suddenly looks up when a Hollywood filmmaker arrives on the island, offering him the chance to escape his boring life. Directed by Claudia Barrie (Dry Land, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), newcomer William Rees plays Billy, supported by Zoe Carides, Laurence Coy, Josh Anderson, Sarah Aubrey, Jude Gibson, John Harding, Alex Bryant-Smith and Jane Watt.