Cats and Comedy: The Lieutenant of Inishmore Comes to Sydney

Abstract

In recent years major Australian theatre companies have increasingly relied on successes from London’s West End to attract audiences. In 1999, Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane was so successful for the Sydney Theatre Company that the production went on a national tour. Sydney’s Belvoir Street company were therefore delighted to be granted the rights for a recent McDonagh play, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, which had its Australian premier in 2003. In pre-show publicity, reference was made to the “savage” satire but most attention focused on the technical challenges of the production. The confrontational nature of the violence and difficulties of presenting it were analysed, while the demands of handling live cats on stage seemed to bring out an unusual level of journalistic curiosity. This article reviews the Sydney production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore arguing that the comedy overwhelmed the satire, and the technical achievements threatened to overwhelm everything.