Inishfree might seem like a quaint Irish town, but fierce evangelist Thomas Magill knows better. He knows that jovial Dwain Flynn is a miserable drunk, that Timmy O'Leary enslaves his lovely mother, and that sweet Mrs Cleary is a blasphemous flirt. It is down to Thomas (and don't call him Tommy) with God on his shoulder, so save this sinful place. But the townsfolk are not listening, an angel is misbehaving and a barking dog will not be silenced. Just how far will Thomas go in his quest for salvation?
In his searing one-man play, Irish playwright Enda Walsh has anti-hero Thomas Magill portray the population of an entire town as he desperately, and sometimes violently, attempts to mould their religious identities to fit his own, whilst simultaneously developing his own identity as best he can within his relentless isolation. One could even argue that this young man is performing his own version of Genesis, by creating the world in his own image.
As always with Walsh, even the words themselves become kinetic throughout the play. Thomas’s monologue, while at first suggesting mere loneliness, is a combination of sacred and graphic imagery, with lofty biblical cadences wrestling with the nagging patterns of daily patter on petty subjects. His talk seesaws between heaven and hell, as do his actions. Magill, unable to establish even the most basic forms of human intercourse, aims to form a working community out of the inhabitants of Inishfree, not realising that he is the most isolated of them all.
Misterman - Identity Quotations
