Caricature gets the better of satire in Gaiety’s Cripple

Ian O’Reilly, Norma Sheahan, Jamie Lee O’Donnell and Ruairi Heading in The Cripple of Inishmaan

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Gaiety Theatre

Until March 9

Rating: ***

In 1934, American film director Robert Flaherty visited the west of Ireland to make a documentary about the Aran Islands. The resulting film, Man of Aran, was widely celebrated for its portrayal of the harsh brutality of island life and the hardiness of its natives. It was later revealed, however, that much of what Flaherty presented as real was actually contrivance: the ...