The Lieutenant of Inishmore takes a bow
Martin McDonagh’s controversial, ultra-violent play The Lieutenant of Inishmore saw its first production in Quebec in January, playing to packed, enthusiastic houses.
“I’m extremely happy with how the show went,” says Kate Bligh, who directed the show (and who teaches courses part-time in Theatre and Canadian Irish Studies at Concordia). “The cast was amazing, and the audiences relished the dark comedy in the show.”
Bligh says she was very eager to mount a production of the play ever since she saw it in New York several years ago. When she began looking into doing the play in Montreal, one of the first people she went to was Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association (CUPFA) president Maria Peluso. “She was immediately very positive about the idea, and urged me to apply for a professional development grant through the union,” Bligh recalls. As a result, Bligh’s production company, Temenos, was able to get $6,000 which went directly to paying cast and crew and expenses for the play, which ran from January 4 to 23 at the Segal Centre.
In addition to Bligh, two other part-time theatre faculty members were involved in the production. Jean- François Gagnon directed the fight scenes and Rea Nolan provided voice-coaching. CUPFA provided an additional $2,000 to support professional development for members involved in the production.
“I was very pleased with the support that Concordia and CUPFA showed for the play,” says Bligh. “CUPFA is clearly a leader in arts support locally. Part of the mandate of Temenos is to train young actors. We had six Concordia graduates and two Dawson graduates in our cast – and they were a tremendous group of hardworking people. We all had quite a bond.”
Adam Driscoll, who graduated from Concordia’s theatre program in 2009, says he felt compelled to be a part of Bligh’s production from the first moment he read the play. “I loved it! I thought that I really had to be in it. The sheer brazenness of the script made it really stand out.”
Driscoll says he was very impressed by what a thorough director Bligh turned out to be. “I had taken a class with Kate, so I knew her a bit before rehearsals started. She took the most thorough approach of any director I’ve ever worked with. For example, the play calls for our characters to fire guns. So Kate arranged to take us down to a firing range in Vermont so we could shoot off some guns.”
In the end, the successful show provided experience for its cast, and showcased the talent of a part-time faculty member. “I was so impressed with the production,” says Peluso. “We were delighted to support such a talented group of people to put on such an inspiring show.”
Related links:
• Department of Theatre
• Recent article about the production