Cillian Murphy in Misterman at London's National Theatre

Poignant - brilliantly executed

Misterman

Written and directed by Enda Walsh

Starring Cillian Murphy

21 April 2012 @ the Lyttelton – National Theatre, London, UK

A poignant snap of a God-ridden life in rural Ireland

Following a raging success at the 2011 Galway Arts Festival, Enda Walsh  brings the new version of his Misterman to the Lyttelton stage and a largely Irish London crowd.

Under Enda Walsh’s direction Cillian Murphy, provided with a salubrious yet splendidly vast and dynamic space to fill, does so, enacting the endearing, unknowingly witty and somewhat unusual young evangelist Thomas Magill from Inishfree. He reverberates a mesmerizing web of emotion and action accompanied by tremendous drive and energy for the entire 90 minutes of this audiovisual feast.

Not one second, not one audience member from the stalls and all the way up to the Gods, is spared a tailored vision of the spectacle with lights, sounds, movement and gigantic God-like shadows of the sometimes maniacal and erratic Thomas Magill on his mission to put the evil Inishfree world, as he sees it, to right. 

Cillian Murphy offers a most stunningly heartfelt, honest and gripping performance with a pace and fluidity so compelling that the audience is engrossed in Thomas’ world of reality as well as imaginary visions and voices, so much so that the non-existent characters he creates or hears become real to the spectator’s eye and ear, not only through Cillian Murphy’s immaculate ability to manipulate each character’s diverging Irish accents and physicalities magnificently with immense skill and clarity, but also by literally following the visions of Thomas’ mind’s eye in their imagined physical movements, as if they are materially as real as his surroundings. 

The detail in the set design and coordination throughout the flickering throes of Thomas’ re-enactments of excerpts of his life, encounters and conversations, or visions thereof, either recounted by himself or recorded and played back with pristine timing, reflects a most high standard of production management by Landmark Productions.

The set, a jaw dropping voluminous, decadent and deceptively full, dusty, rusty and musty disused warehouse with all the trimmings, is incredibly responsive to Thomas’ assaults such as repeated, impulsive and dysfunctional object throwing, kicking and hitting. The set itself lives and has such genuine features that it is difficult to believe Thomas is amid a sea of props, on a stage supporting a 30ft wide and deep concrete surface, reposing on imposing angular concrete pillars 10ft high, which in effect, splits the space horizontally. Given the Godly-thread of this parable, this vertical separation of the space could be seen as a depiction of the border between Hell and Heaven, on which Enda Walsh places evil angel-like Thomas Magill at the pinnacle and close of the play…

…a finale so dramatic and heart wrenching, so emotionally charged that the audience is dumbstruck and unable to applaud as instantly as one would expect immediately after the closing blackout…a somewhat delayed standing ovation inevitably ensued.