“Geoff Kent cuts through the play’s darkness — literal and figurative both — as a virtuous and good-hearted Macduff. He handles the scene in which he learns the fate of his family by going inward and contrasting the violence with stillness. It’s a powerful moment.”

But The Lieutenant of Inishmore doesn’t glorify violence; it exposes it as the last resort of stupid, mentally powerless people. I have to admit that all the ghoulish bloodletting does give a certain horrified pleasure — witness all the guilty, chuckling gasps emitted by the audience.