The Cripple Of Inismaan

Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, Feb 21–Mar 6 7.30pm 15-45 0818-719388 gaietytheatre.ie

Just how seriously should we take Martin McDonagh? When Druid theatre company first delivered his violent parodies and pop-cultural remixes of JM Synge’s rural Ireland, it energised an audience apparently oblivious to the collected works of Quentin Tarantino. But the question over McDonagh’s “hidden shallows” has long remained, where a grim comic treatment of desperate characters can make the stage seem cruel and paper-thin. Treating such material without a snigger, however, helps to account for the marvellous tension in Druid’s production – one that’s genuinely funny and sometimes shocking – making this an illuminating and rewarding collaboration.

Based on the filming of Man of Aranin 1934, Robert Flaherty's exploitative Inis Mór documentary, McDonagh's play finds stifled locals peddling a fiction of Ireland for the benefit of new opportunities. "Ireland mustn't be such a bad place, so, if the Yanks want to come here to do their filming," goes one rationale, and perhaps Culture Ireland (which is assisting with Druid's well-received and extensive American tour) sees a similar promotional potential in the show.

As a satire on the Irish image abroad, it’s a timely and slightly subversive piece, and, in this Dublin visit, Garry Hynes’s grimly beautiful production may bring McDonagh’s closer to some home truths.

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At Swim-Two-Birds, Project Arts Centre, Dublin