PAST PRODUCTION (2013)

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

By Martin McDonagh

About the Show

by Martin McDonagh. Directed by Janet Clark. The Beauty Queen of Leenane is set in the mountains of Connemara in County Galway, Ireland. The play is a blend of hysterical comedy, grand melodrama, violence and bleak tragedy. It tells the darkly comic tale of Maureen Folan, a lonely woman in her early forties, and Mag, her manipulative, ageing mother. Two sisters have escaped into marriage leaving Maureen, with a history of mental illness, trapped in a small bleak cottage and a seriously dysfunctional relationship with her mother. Her mother's interference in Maureen's love life puts in motion some dark and frightening consequences. As events unfold the cottage is visited by the brothers Ray and Pato Dooley. Ray is the younger brother, an irresponsible and irrepressible young man. Pato is a construction worker fed up with his life which forces him to work in England to earn a living. A spark of romance occurs between Maureen and Pato and then fizzles out with disastrous results. This play was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1996, then transferred to Broadway in 1998. In 2010 it was presented at the Young Vic before going on tour. The play has received various nominations and awards: it was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Play; the 1998 Broadway production was nominated for six Tony Awards, winning four. Read John Drewry's review of the production below.