'There's more than one way to skin a theatrical cat; and McDonagh's chosen weapons are laughter and gore? Pushing theatre to its limits, McDonagh is making a serious point? a work as subversive as those Synge and O'Casey plays that sparked Dublin riots in the last century' Guardian

'A brave satire? Swiftianly savage and parodic? with explicit brutal actino and lines which sing with grace and wit' Observer

Who knocked Mad Padraic's cat over on a lonely road on the island of Inishmore and was it an accident? He'll want to know when he gets back from a stint of torture and chip-shop bombing in Northern Ireland: he loves his cat more than life itself.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore is a brilliant satire on terrorism, a powerful corrective to the beautification of violence in contemporary culture, and a hilarious farce. It premiered at the RSC's The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, in May 2001.

Commentary and notes by Patrick Lonergan