I have repeatedly written about Martin McDonagh, about his manner of writing for the theater, about the cinematic merits of his plays, hence the rapid metamorphosis of some of them in the script for the big screen. They owe it to their stable periodicity in the repertoires of various theaters. Most recently, I did this in mid-April 2023 when commenting on a play Lieutenant of Inishmoreinstalled on the stage of the Theater queen maria from Oradea.

Then I remembered that this recording from 2000, first presented in May 2001 precisely on Royal Shakespeare Company, Elsewhere, Stretford-on-Avon and awarded in 2003 with the prize named after Oliver to category Best New Comedy it made its way to Romania thanks to Bohdan Budes’ excellent translation, first at Teatrul Mic, where it was staged by Vlad Massacci. The same Vlad Massaci, who, together with another director, namely Christian Juncu, has done a great deal for the knowledge of new Irish dramatic literature, as well as the works of Martin MacDonagh in Romania.

If I remember correctly, I saw the first performance of one of McDonagh’s works almost 20 years ago. More precisely, in 2005 at the Nottara Theater. It is about Lame Billy staged there by Vlad Massaci, who many years later returned to stage the same text, apparently in a completely different way, at the State Theater in Constanta. with Lame Billy he came right after Vlad Massacchi and Christy Junko. He did it at a performance at the Theater named after Thomas Caragiu from Ploiesti. Beauty Queen of Leanana, Lonely West, Pillow Manthe last text was staged for the first time in the country by Rada Afrim at the Theater Maria Filotti from Braila, they, in turn, have been the landmarks of the Romanian theater for the last 20 years.

In the aforementioned chronicle of the Theater, the play named after queen maria from Oradea, I quoted Vlad Massaki himself, who said this somewhere Lieutenant of Inishmore will be Martin McDonagh’s best game yet. So it is natural that I, formed in the years when the study of language works was highly valued in college, when reading the book was absolutely required Quand dire, c‘est faire John Lugshaw Austin, wishing to see a play directed by the said at the Little Theater in Bucharest. Which is also the work of Vlad Massaci, set designer Ioana Paska and a wonderful cast. That is, to be interested in coincidences of Vlad Masachi’s words and expressions.

Lieutenant of Inishmore it’s a dark comedy with a lot going on. Motans are lost, found and confused, acts of terrorism are planned and carried out, illegal heroin dealers are investigated and tortured, there is even talk of planning separatist actions in the heart of the violent Irish Liberation Movement, the unrelenting punishment of the separatists looms. All this is consumed in several places, which creates big problems related to the management of the game space. The more, the more years Teatrul Mic saw twice its hall in Constantin Mille. Currently still playing in the so-called Workshop hall. So, in Lieutenant of Inishmore, actors are surrounded by spectators on three sides, characters appear on the fourth. Which are placed either in the house of Donny, the father of the separatist terrorist Padraic, or where he tortures his victims, or in the place where the disgraced Irishmen Christy, Joey and Brendan prepare their terrible revenge, or on the street. Ioana Pashka found a life-saving solution to intelligently eliminate the feeling of discomfort and tightness. The film’s inserts, thanks to Doina Morar and Adrian Petrarius, take us to the not-so-friendly borders of Ireland, mentioned by Vlad Massaci and in Lame Billy.

Because of Padraic’s boundless love for the cat Tommy, because of similar feelings for another cat named Sir Roger de Merid (a seemingly boyish face, who for a short time became not only handsome, but also the lieutenant referred to in the title of you are). and who was going to marry Padraic) no more, no less than four people die. Some three are killed outright, and the operation is described in detail. Blood flows, cuts are made, flesh rises, people are mercilessly sacrificed in Martin McDonagh’s play and Vlad Massachi’s play. All this happens for free, but out of a desire to draw attention to the devastation caused by stubbornness, extremism, and terrorism. Everything that happens as a result of Padraic’s mad love for the cat Tommy is just a pretext used by the Irish playwright and, following him, the director Vlad Masasi, to draw attention to the immodesty that has come to dominate our world with the help of measured black humor. To do this, the playwright does not deal with the history of his country with gloves, what was not quite good in the history of the IRA. And Vlad Massaki doesn’t wear gloves either.

The characters are interpreted in deliberately different stylistic tones. Ionuc Vishan plays, and plays well, in a consistent, undeniably realistic matrix. He is a tough padrek, merciless to people, but absolutely hypersensitive when it comes to cats. Silvana Mihai, whose character sacrifices everything to avenge Sir Roger’s accidental death, also develops in the same vein. This sir was none other than her own motan. _

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