Scenes 1-2

Martin McDonagh 's play The Lieutenant of Inishmore is a Black Comedy about mindless terrorism and it is performed in an exaggerated almost caricature style of acting; the play is set on the island of Inishmore in The Republic of Ireland.

Scene one

A small cottage on the island of Inisbmore in The Republic of Ireland circa 1993. There is a framed a piece of embroidery reading 'Home Sweet Home'. What is left of the cat (supposedly Wee Thomas) is on stage when the play begins. The cat's decapitated state inspires more fear that sorrow in Donny and Davey. They know that once Padraic, who is on the road in Northern Ireland bungling the bombing offish and chip shops, learns of his cat's demise they are likely to wind up much like the mutilated cat. The stage directions and first few lines of this scene introduce us to:

the death of a cat
blood and gore
the buffoon like characters of Donny and Dave and their slapstick behavior
the 'Home Sweet Home' embroidery which juxtaposes the action
the importance of the character's dialogue that picks up and repeats words and phrases which adds to the humour and stupidity of the situation.

Activity

Improvise this opening segment and discussing your findings with your peers.
Workshop pages 6 and 7 exploring:

the childlike relationship between Donny and Dave who work as a pair of
comic incompetents
the use of repetition in their language to heighten their characters stupidity
how the characters introduce Padraic to the audience (i.e. His profession as a bomber and that his only friend in the world is a cat)
the IRA recruitment methods which felt Padraic 'too mad' to be let into their organization, so instead Padraic has joined the INLA
where the decapitated cat should be placed in this small section (* Please see how to create body props at the end of the teaching strategies).

Logbook reflection

How did you physicalise your characters to find their childlike, yet adult natures?
How did you understanding of the structure of the dialogue help with its delivery?
What future dramatic action has Martin McDonagh set up in his opening scene?
How might an audience react to seeing a decapitated cat in their first introduction to the play?
What are the elements of farce and satire in this opening?

Scene two

A desolate Northern Ireland warehouse. A life sized stuffed dummy should be hung up by its feet for this scene. This would represent the character of James with his bloody and bruised body and feet. The barbaric visual elements in this play are very important and the students should you exploring this immediately by completing the activity below.

Activity

Read the stage directions and discuss:

How the concept of cruelty and comedy is visually introduced
What impact these dramatic visuals would immediately have on an audience?

With a partner, have one you become Padraic and one stands behind the dummy to become James. Play Padraic and James to actively explore how these lines might be delivered. Consider if the characters play them with heightened voices and action or with subdued voices and action to grab hold of the audience's attention? Continue to workshop the rest of the scene, paying particular attention to Padraic's longer speeches by exploring:

his heightened rhetoric and what affect this has on the dramatic structure of the scene, especially in relationship to demonstrating Padraic's contradictory character
his mistaken motive, as he perceives this torturing task a necessary step in the nationalist cause
his lyrical Irish accent which can create an appealing musicality to the speeches
how his physicality and physical movement may create shock waves through the audience
the changing pace and mood and how James uses this for his own cause
the connection between words, sounds, movement, blood and gore to create a shocking visual picture.

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