'Leenane' captures ugliness of poverty
By Hedy Weiss. Theatre Critic Chicago Sun-Times
November 2, 2002
Madness or exile. These are the only two ways out for the
inhabitants of the impoverished, isolated little west Ireland
town that is the backdrop for Martin McDonagh's 1996 play
"The Beauty Queen of Leenane."
Those who are unlucky, like Maureen Folan (the searingly
real, emotionally raw Maura Walzer) and her aged mother, Mag
(a richly manipulative Geraldine Greene), are fated to remain
at home. And caged in, with no one but the other to blame,
they will turn on each other with savage physical and psychological
warfare. The lucky ones, like Pato Dooley (the poignantly
lost-and-found Jackie Scanlan), will head for England or America
for jobs, yet often feel like aliens. The dimwitted, like
Pate's younger brother Ray (fine spiky work by Joe Varden),
are bound for a dead end.
The Ennis Players of County Clare, Ireland--a small troupe
with qualities of community theater and professional fringe--have
brought their prize-winning production of McDonagh's play
to Bailiwick Repertory this weekend. And if you can get past
the accents--at times as thick as peat--you're in for a fine
if horrifying ride.
Unlike the mix of arch comedy and Grand Guignol that characterized
a Steppenwolf production of the play a few seasons back, these
Irish actors, shrewdly directed by Allen Flynn, take a more
realistic approach. The horror of the situation, and the repeated
absurdities, seem almost Beckettlike here.
The set, by Mick Kelly and Flynn, is a masterpiece of groaning
poverty and damp rot, devoid of sensuality and hope. With
its peeling, sodden walls and threadbare furnishings, the
Folans' house is as bleak as life gets. You can almost smell
it. It's a living grave for a play the actors clearly feel
in their bones.
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