This is the second play in a trilogy taking place at the Aran Islands by Ireland’s west coast. A black, old and beloved tomcat named Wee Thomas sets off an avalanche of terror and murder in Ireland. The freedom fighter Padraic has left his cat Wee Thomas with his father Donny while he is out terrorising for INLA. But the cat is killed by other terrorists to get in touch with Padraic. Horrified by this violent rage, Donny and Davey attempt to camouflage the death of the cat. Davey is a young, chubby and longhaired guy whose sister Mairead is a beautiful figure who has mastered the art of riffling by practising on shooting out the eyes of cows and heifers from a long distance. She also has a cat, Sir Rodger which is orange. Desperately, Donny and Davey try to turn Sir Rodger black with shoe polish to fool Padraic who undoubtedly will appear when he hears about his only friend’s condition. It all ends in a terrible and grotesque bloodbath in which Mairead, despite the fact that they have fallen in love, shoots Padraic because he has killed her beloved cat. Finally it emerges that Wee Thomas has been confused for another cat while he was out enjoying his vital old age and is alive and well. The play is not only a wild and funny tour de force. It is a grotesque and biting comment to the whole “Irish question” in which revenge, terrorism, violence and murder takes place almost daily. Some would perhaps be shocked by the ridicule of the horror but the ridicule is serious business. No theatre dared to do the play until Royal Shakespeare Company presented it as one of their biggest successes for a long time.
