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General Mayhem Staged

"The Lieutenant of Inishmore" is a bloody good comedy.

Photo from Jobsite Theater

Matt Lunsford and Kari Goetz star in Jobsite Theater's "The Lieutenant of Inishmore," a dark comedy written by Martin McDonagh ("In Bruges").

By KATHY L. GREENBERG | Tribune correspondent

Published: March 28, 2009

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Bring a strong stomach to Jobsite Theatre's production of "The Lieutenant of Inishmore." You're going to need it to watch Martin McDonagh's deliciously vile, blood-drenched black comedy about dead cats, torture and terrorism.

In this comedy of devastating errors, with enough extreme carnage to make Quentin Tarantino queasy, bumbling characters shoot, maim, slice and dice one another with abandon and little remorse. Make no mistake: The violence is not implied. Chris Holcom's overt special effects amount to gallons of presumably fake blood splattered all over the set. At the play's end, the stage is drenched, eliciting sickening sounds as the actors left standing tread the saturated floorboards.

Beyond the gore is the good stuff that makes it worth peeking behind this production's red curtain. The easily offended might not appreciate the absurd overkill and outrageously misplaced values. But for everyone else, it's hilarious.

The story begins with a nearly decapitated cat in the small Irish village of Inishmore. Davey (Dominic Russo) finds the animal lying in the road and takes the carcass to Donny's (Ned Averill-Snell) house to identify it. Donny declares the cat to be Wee Thomas, his son's beloved childhood pet.

Davey swears he didn't run over the cat, but Donny says that unless he confesses, he'll tell his son what happened - true or not. The logic only makes sense to a man bombed on homemade hooch.

Davey agrees to take the blame when he learns that Donny's son is "mad" Padraic (Matt Lunsford). The wacky Irishman has a hair-trigger temper and a penchant for violence.

A scene change introduces Padraic, who has just removed two toenails from a drug dealer's foot. Just as he's about to slice off an aesthetic part of the drug dealer's anatomy, he receives a call from Donny saying Wee Thomas is ill (Dad wants to soften the blow). Sobbing and hysterical, Padraic drops everything to rush home and love on the cat.

The ensuing bloodbath assures a new hierarchy where a cat's life is valued above a human's.

Lunsford is brilliant as Padraic, who is superbly stupid.

Equally superb is Kari Goetz, who plays Padraic's lover and fighter in arms, Mairead.

Under David Jenkins' direction, the wholly terrific cast makes this intense production good to the last bloody drop.