The Not-So-Secret Policeman’s Ball

The facts, ma’am, just the facts. Quoth the Blue Raincoat blurb elves:

Where on earth would one find a group of village policemen obsessed with bicycles even going so far as to steal the things themselves to counteract the effects of an atomic theory which holds that through a sort of molecular transfer the owners of bicycles become bicycles themselves and vice versa?
  I have no idea.
  Where would you find a character that has a wooden leg, cannot remember his own name, and is party to a murder and devoted to the musings of an eccentric philosopher named De Selby who believes that the earth is not round but shaped like a sausage?
  Once again, I am at a loss.
  Moreover, in addition and while we are at it. How many policemen do you know who have a device which works by storing loud noises such as shouting and hammering, and later converting them into light when needed?
  I know of no such cohort.
  Would you like to make their acquaintance?
  Indeed I would.
  Blue Raincoat Theatre Company will be staging their production of Flann O’Brien’s THE THIRD POLICEMAN at venues nationwide during May. You will be introduced to a host of characters and find yourself in balls of laughter.
  THE THIRD POLICEMAN by Flann O’Brien. What’s that?
  It is a murder mystery, an hilarious comic satire, a fable of eternal grief, the story of romantic love between a man and his bicycle and a surreal vision of eternity with a cast that includes policemen, a man, his soul, a one-legged gallows maker and bicycles. Described variously as a “ Fantastic production” and a “ heady delight”, Jocelyn Clarke’s adaptation of the famous novel by Flann O’Brien begins a tour of the country on May 3rd.
  Sounds fantastic.
  It is. Visit www.blueraincoat.com for more details.

Yes, yes – but is it any good? “Marvellous … and it looked gorgeous,” voted the Irish Times Critics Choice in 2007. “A fantastic production, truly impressive,” reckons The Sunday Independent. “Striking, funny, tragic, entertaining …” says the Irish Times. So there you have it: THE THIRD POLICEMAN. Blue Raincoat. ’Nuff said.