The Lieutenant of Inishmore

One of the few benefits of the two day bus trip was that the company arrived in Chicago in time to be able to see a show on Wednesday night. The munchkin advance team had rehearsal on Wednesday so they left on the bus at 5am to be in Chicago by 1pm. Since I had flown home on Tuesday, I had the chance to hang out with the family on Tuesday night, and then I took the train into Chicago to meet the bus and collect my luggage on Wednesday. Of course as is my custom, I thoroughly researched all of the possible activities that were available for that night and compiled a list with one front runner. I had interest in seeing Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare (especially because of the big pool!), I also could have seen the tour of A Chorus Line (I probably should have but oh well), but what I really wanted to see was The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

If you remember back to my trip to New York with Heather, I saw a play called The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDouagh. I have seen a couple of his other plays, but there was one that I always regretted missing on Broadway and that was The Lieutenant of Inishmore. From what I had read it sounded like a play that I would thoroughly enjoy. I mean at the end of the show, the stage is covered in an inch think pool of fake blood. How can you go wrong?

The one catch was that to see Inishmore, I had to make it out to Skokie. I chose to not have my car with me in Chicago due to the hassle and expense so that left public transportation. Thankfully the L trains will take you to Skokie and drop you off about a mile from the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts where it was playing. I had been to the North Shore Center a couple of times before so I knew the lay of the land somewhat otherwise I might not have made it. But I did and in fact the box office person sold me an "Industry" ticket for $10. I was grateful, but curious why she decided to do that for me. Perhaps it was the sweat dripping off of my nose from the mile long walk!

And the show? It was so worth the trip. The story is of a Irishman who is too violent to be in the IRA and who ends up going on a killing spree in order to find out who killed his beloved cat. Absurd? Well that is the point. All of the violence, the killings, disembowelment, and blood is to point out the senselessness of terrorism. My one complaint was that there was not enough blood at the end of the show. From what I understand, on Broadway the stage was literally a pool of blood at the end. Oh well, it was Skokie after all and not Broadway. My favorite part was listening to the blue hairs behind me commenting out loud about how disgusting the show was and how anyone who could laugh at that must be sick. Hmm, I guess that I'm sick!