Poignancy amid the humour
The Age, Australia
July 9 2003
By Jim Murphy
Three days before they opened in Melbourne, Ireland's Ennis
Players learnt that their scenery and furnishings were still
on a container ship somewhere between Taiwan and Fremantle.
But, in the best theatrical tradition, the show did go on
and was very much right on the night. Local theatre companies
rallied to the cause, and a set was put together in record
time so the production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane that
won the All-Ireland amateur theatre competition last year
could open as scheduled.
Martin McDonagh's outstanding first play, which won four
Tony Awards in 1998, is set in the drab kitchen of a tiny
rural cottage in the west of Ireland, home to 40-year-old
spinster Maureen and her semi-invalid, 70-year-old mother,
Mag, who sits in front of the TV watching Sons and Daughters,
The Sullivans and A Country Practice ("Australian shite").
Maureen has no life of her own, thanks to the demanding old
lady. The two are locked in a continuous battle for control
of their miserable existence, endlessly sniping at one another.
Amiable neighbour Pato gives Maureen her first hope of escape
by bedding her after a party and spins dreams of a new life
in America. But they reckon without the intervention of a
bitter old woman, terrified at being left to fen |
