THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE

 

The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh.

 Directed and designed  by Cate Clelland. Assisted by Roasemary Gibbons. Set realisation Ron Abrahams. Costumes Cast. Props. Anne Somes. Rosemary Gibbons. Cate Clelland and Janie Lawson. Lighting design Craig Muller. Sound design Neville Pye. Stage Managers Charlie and Sam Harbison-Gehrmann. Marketing and publicity Olivia Wenholz. Social Media James Tolhurst-Close Photography Janelle McMenamin. Free Rain Theatre. ACT HUB. June 25 – July 5. 2025. Bookings: enquiries@acthub.com.au;  0402 809 762

 Reviewed by Peter Wilkins 

Janie Lawson as Maureen and Alice Ferguson as Mag

 

 

 

 

 Winner of the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for Best Play and the recipient of four Tony Awards, Martin McDonagh’s play The Beauty Queen of Leenane receives a highly commendable production by Free Rain Theatre at ACT HUB.  Under the keenly observed direction of Cate Clelland and performed by  an outstanding local cast, McDonagh’s dark comedy exposes the fragility of human nature. Set against the bleak backdrop of an isolated cottage in County Galway, The Beauty Queen of Leenane tells the story of  45 year old spinster Maureen Foley ( Janie Lawson) and her cantankerous, manipulative mother, 70 year old Mag Foley (Alice Ferguson). Maureen has been released from a mental institution into the care of her controlling mother.  Next door neighbour Ray Dooley (Robbie Haltiner) who invites Maureen to come to a party lends the play a touch of Irish comic irony. Ray’s brother Pato ( played with gentle empathy by Bruce Hardie) offers hope of an escape from Maureen’s entrapment, only to have dreams shattered by Mag’s conniving disposal of Pato’s letter and offer of a new life in America. It is an act of selfish manipulation with deadly consequence. McDonagh’s domestic tragedy echoes with the cruel inevitability of Mag’s fateful interference.

Janie Lawson as Maureen. Bruce Hardie as Pato

Clelland’s atmospherically staged production emanates a pervasive air of futility. Hope lies trampled in the dust of unattainable dreams. Alice Ferguson’s Mag is unnervingly wily, wielding her invidious influence over the vulnerable Maureen. Ferguson’s performance is pivotal to McDonagh’s portrayal of parental manipulation. Our response is visceral, as we watch Ferguson’s Mag dominate the scene from the confine of her rocking chair. Lawson’s Maureen effectively journeys through her rollercoaster of emotion, from the compliant victim of her mother’s will to the coquettish older virgin, longing for escape to her pathetic recourse to fantasy and desperation. Ferguson and Lawson are supported by the performances of Haltiner as the  voluble neighbour and Hardie as Ray’s  affable brother Pato who provides  a momentary possibility of hope for Maureen.   Every performance by these talented actors does justice to McDonagh’s play. The entire production is imbued with Neville Pye’s soulful sound design and the lilting evocative melodies of the Irish ballads.

Robbie Haltiner as Ray. Al;ice Ferguson as Mag

 

 

Free Rain’s production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane lives up to the dram a’s litany of garnered awards. It is yet another of the excellent productions staged by ACT HUB,Free Rain,Everyman and Chaika at the modest ACT HUB theatre. It is regrettable that productions like The Beauty Queen of Leenane should by necessity have to suffer short seasons. This notable production of a classic Irish play deserves full houses and yet a short season prevents the greatest adulation and attendance that it deserves.  The Beauty Queen of Leenane’s short season ends tomorrow. Don’t miss it.