Theatre Review: The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Theatre By The Lake, Keswick

Martin McDonagh, whether on stage, or at the cinema (with his latest film The Banshees of Inisheren) is the master chronicler of Irish isolation. At his best when he turns his hand to two main protagonists.

The Beauty Queen may be 26 years ‘older’ now, but her ability to tantalise audiences with a mix of sharp comedy and blunt horror remains undimmed.

Maureen (Elizabeth Appleby) is a 40-year-old love-starved spinster locked into a lonely life in County Galway for 20 years, coping with the repetitive demands of an ailing mother Mag (Susan Twist). A glimpse of escape brings matters to a grim conclusion.

Twist, a familiar face around the region’s theatres, is perfectly cast as the rocking chair-bound matriarch. “An interfering old biddy” is probably the kindest thing anyone ever said about her. Equally, Appleby matches her in a performance bristling with rage.

As catalyst to their relationship Pato (Cillian O Gairbhi) recites a love letter monologue at the opening of Act Two, which rightly earns its own round of applause.

It was also a mark of the launch night audience’s involvement that there were distinct gasps, or murmurs of anxiety, at appropriate moments. It’s only live theatre that can still prompt such collective reaction.

Ray (Cameron Tharma) completes the cast as a psychotic youth harbouring his own resentments against the world, and a specific one involving a tennis ball!

Leenane’s dark Beauty still exerts a fatal attraction and continues here until November 11.

David Upton