This crazy, Irish play is ready to make the Aussies cry, laugh and fall in love with the dark and witty characters of Ireland's desolate Aran Islands.
Martin McDonagh – dubbed 'The Irish Tarantino' – collected six Tony Award nominations after the 2014 Broadway production of 'The Cripple Of Inishmaan' and now he’s getting ready for Adelaide.
Praised as a "sublime tragicomedy" by Variety and "outrageously funny" by the New York Times, the play won over tonnes of new fans in 2014 with a critically acclaimed Broadway season starring Daniel Radcliffe in the title role.
McDonagh will be taking the audience back to 1934 to meet Billy Claven, an orphan 'cripple', his far from normal aunties and the rest of the villagers of Inishmaan. The man of the hour, Matthew Houston, will be playing Billy. “Firstly, it’s the first main role, and major role, I've properly had and the first time I’m playing a titular character, so that’s kind of exciting in its own right.
“Secondly, it’s just a beautiful script really. The Director asked me if I’d like to be in it, and I read over the script, and gave it some thought. Not that it required much thought really. I mean McDonagh is a really great play writer so, it was a no-brainer for sure,” says Matthew.“So I’m playing a 17-year-old boy, Billy Clavern, who has abnormalities, one side of his body, one leg and one arm are essentially crippled. But he doesn't suffer from any intellectual disabilities. It is interesting because that places him in more of an outsider role. He’s an outsider among the outsiders.
“He's a bit of a loner, he doesn't have many friends at all, the script says he has friends, but even they turn their back on him when that’s most convenient for them. He doesn't really have anyone to talk to; he keeps to himself a lot. He reads a lot of books, and he stares at cows. That in itself is kind of a tell-tale sign of how introvert Billy is.
“At the same time, though, he's a typical teenager, he's full of anger and angst and awkwardness. The best quality to Billy is that he's a very resilient boy, he can tolerate a lot before he reaches his breaking point,” says Matthew.
Billy is living with his two adoptive aunties, Kate and Eileen Osbourne, one of which talks to rocks, and one who constantly eats emotionally. Another character, Johnnypateenmike, is trying to kill his mother by being an accessory to her drinking problem – a real charming bunch.“They're all pretty messed up in their own ways. There are a lot of family issues, especially with the young kids, Helen and Bartley, who don't really have any parental figures and it's kind of a shame because you can tell that these kids aren't the most socially efficient or proficient people,” says Matthew.
With warnings about strong language and violent scenes, this play will surely present some of the Irish ways and expressions we all know and love. “My character doesn't swear too much, but the others do. Helen, for example, her opening line is: 'are you fecking comin' you feck?' There are a lot of f-words being thrown around between Helen and her brother; they're throwing 'bitch' around and 'shite'. There are plenty of classic one-liners,” says Matthew.
'The Cripple Of Inishmaan' plays at The Adelaide Repertory Theatre, 3-12 September.
