Gunplay. Bombings. Cheese-grater torture. For the real deal in ultra-violent thrills and nihilistic giggles this summer, forget the movies — just trek over to the Mark Taper Forum for their presentation of The Lieutenant of Inishmore, running now through August 8th. For anyone familiar with the work of Martin McDonough, the depraved Irish playwright behind such affronts to human decency as The Pillow Man and The Beauty Queen of Leenane, (as well as 2008’s Oscar-nominated screenplay for the hilarious splatstick crime-comedy In Bruges) you know what you’re getting yourself into. Everyone else, brace yourselves; shit’s gonna get medieval.

Starring Chris Pine, the unfairly-good-looking centerpiece of last year’s Star Trek reboot, Inishmore follows the adventures of Padraic, a young IRA terrorist whose sadism and sociopathy are matched only by his love of his pet cat, Wee Thomas. When Wee Thomas turns up dead and Padraic returns to his hometown to investigate, barbaric sociopolitical farce ensues. The show has only been out a week, and there are already reports of horrified old people walking out of it. This deserves our support.

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WHAT: The wildest night of theater in town
WHEN: Now – August 8th
WHERE: The Mark Taper Forum
$$$: $25-$35

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 5:04 pm and is filed under stage, weekend. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.