THE STORY: The Howie Lee gets dragged into a bizarre feud of honor involving a scabies-infested mattress against The Rookie Lee, which spirals out of control and ends in his own personal tragedy. The Rookie has problems of his own: massively in debt to a terrifying gangland figure for killing his prized Siamese fighting fish, he steels himself for a hideous revenge, until he is championed from an unlikely quarter by his onetime enemy. HOWIE THE ROOKIE is a white-knuckle ride through a nightmare Dublin, where enemies and allies are interchangeable, where the most brutal events take on a mythic significance.
“…ripe with propulsive syntax, musical repetitions and majestic hyperbole that somehow keep speech on a gut level of engagement…[The] epithetladen language suggest Homer channeled, via Irish cadences and argot, through the gutter-speak of rap stars. It’s a clipped, highly kinetic poetry that transforms even a quarrel with the parents over baby-sitting into something like Ulysses’ battle with the Cyclops…gives you that priceless, delirious high that comes from hearing words made flesh.” —The New York Times.
“…provides a visceral kick far more powerful than your average multimillion-dollar martial arts picture…[a] terrifically talented playwright…a brutal, bitterly funny and surprisingly tender evening of theater…” —Variety.
