This is the first tour in Ireland of Martin McDonagh’s 2003 play, written a year before he embarked on a film career. The production is also noteworthy for being the theatre debut of stand-up comedian David McSavage. You wonder if the zany star of The Savage Eye can really deliver a disciplined performance as Tupolski, the detective questioning Katurian (Peter Campion), a writer whose short stories seem to have inspired a spate of child murders. McSavage does deliver, and it’s some of the performances around him from the experienced stage actors that are less assured, with Gary Lydon (the bad cop Ariel) allowing his accent to do a tour of east London and parts of America. McDonagh’s humour is as wicked and dark as ever, but only really crackles in the second half. Some of Katurian’s stories are acted out on a back stage by mimers and, while one was out of sync, the technique should have been used with all of them. “Could you skip to the end?” Michal (Michael Ford-FitzGerald) interrupts one tale being related by his brother Katurian. “This bit’s boring.” In a play full of self-referential humour, it’s one of the better in-jokes.
Gaiety, Dublin, Mon-Sat 7.30pm, Sat 3pm, €19.65