London Classic Theatre: Beauty Queen of Leeane

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE - 2010

By Martin McDonagh
Directed by Michael Cabot
Design by Kerry Bradley
Lighting by Joe Vose
Costume by Katja Krzesinska

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"This is acting that burns itself into the memory"
Theatre in Wales

"Connie Walker, as Maureen, gives a fine performance"
Irish Examiner

"This excellent London Classic Theatre production"
Munster Express

CAST:

Alan DeVally, Brendan Fleming, Paddy Glynn and Connie Walker.

SELECTED VENUES:

Everyman Palace Cork, Ardhowen Theatre Enniskillen, Garter Lane Waterford, Pavilion Theatre Dun Laoghaire, Greenwich Theatre, Clwyd Theatr Cymru and Lawrence Batley Theatre Huddersfield.

VICTOR HALLETT - THEATRE IN WALES

"London Classic Theatre have built up a formidable reputation for touring productions that take the stifling claustrophobia of family relationships to levels of white hot intensity.

They don't come much more claustrophobic than Martin McDonagh's mother and daughter trapped in their small Irish cottage. Mag is a perpetual invalid, only able to move with great difficulty, except when it suits her. Maureen, dowdy and unmarried, is at her constant beck and call, except when she refuses to be. These two are locked in constant sniping warfare, a warfare that also includes moments when the sniping turns into something altogether more vicious and dangerous.

Then comes Maureen's big chance. Neighbour Pato returns from working in London and shows distinct interest in her. She earns his 'beauty queen' soubriquet by showing just how stunning she can look in a little black dress.

That's the signal for the warfare to escalate, first by treachery and betrayal and then by gloves-off conflict.

Paddy Glynn's Mag is a frightening portrait of malice and malignancy, her face either grimly deadpan or wickedly gleeful. Connie Walker's Maureen makes you weep for her trapped soul, until you realise just what she is capable of.

Brendan Fleming's Pato is a beautifully realised portrait of a straightforward man who wants to give love but who has no conception of the battlefield he has strayed into. Alan DeVally is equally good as the naïve young man who loves Australian soaps and is a bit of a fantasist.

Set, costumes and props wholly create the world of this grubby kitchen, giving off an air of such reality that when Mag pours her urine down the sink the audience gasps with horrified laughter as though the imagined smell was real.

This outstanding production has the full measure of McDonagh's richly formal Irish dialogue as well as his blackly comic humour. But it's the acting that will be remembered. The two men give excellent, superbly nuanced and rounded performances. The women take us right to the heart of darkness that is the core of this blisteringly destructive relationship. This is acting that burns itself into the memory, that creates its own utterly convincing reality and allows you to share these two lives, however uncomfortable that may be."

COLETTE SHERIDAN - IRISH EXAMINER ****

"The darkly comic world of playwright Martin McDonagh is brought to life in this London Classic Theatre Company's exploration of a tense relationship between Mag, the manipulative septuagenarian mother of Maureen, a frustrated spinster. The two women play out their days in tedious routines, peppered by rancorous comments and spiteful acts.

The claustrophobic world of the women, both trapped in their miserable lives, is heightened by the set, a cluttered old-fashioned rural kitchen. Only the sounds of Mary Black and Leslie Dowdall on the radio, and talk of Australian soaps on the television, indicate that this is not 1950s Ireland. When Pato, the object of Maureen's fantasies, comes on the scene, she abandons herself and holds out hope that he will save her from a fate that keeps her at home minding her mother.

Paddy Glynn as Mag gives a considered performance. Connie Walker, as Maureen, gives a fine performance. Pato, played by Brendan Fleming, is disarmingly sensitive. His brother, Ray, played by Alan DeVally, has the short attention span of a young man at odds with the slow pace of life in Leenane."

LIAM MURPHY - MUNSTER EXPRESS

"There was a special interest in this excellent London Classic Theatre production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Connie Walker, who played Maureen Folan so well was returning to her family city and her grandmother, the wonderful Hannah Daniels, was in the capacity audience.

Walker was so impressive, with a full-on aggressive, bitter and revengeful portrayal of the sometimes crazy girl trapped into caring for vengeful, spiteful mother, who feared being dumped in a home. Such was the intensity of her performance that I saw aspects of the character that I missed in the famous Druid production that the late Anna Manahan won a Tony in.

London Classic Theatre, have been coming to Waterford for about ten years and they have earned a reputation for quality work and Michael Cabot is a meticulous director who delivers the goods. This production illuminated many of the strands of madness, bitterness and lonely craziness that Martin McDonagh is rightly famous for.

The Co. Wicklow actress Paddy Glynn was wonderful as the spiteful, fearful May Folan. Brendan Fleming was a fine Pato Dooley and I loved the nervous, fidgety energy of Alan Devally as Ray Dooley. Kerry Bradley’s design was wonderful."

LONDON CLASSIC THEATRE, THE PRODUCTION OFFICE, 63 SHIRLEY AVENUE, SUTTON, SURREY, SM1 3QT
TELEPHONE: 020 8395 2095 EMAIL: INFO@LONDONCLASSICTHEATRE.CO.UK