Skip to main content

Review of The Beauty Queen Of Leenane at The Playhouse Theatre, Northampton

While Martin McDonagh is now making quite a name for himself as a screenwriter, director and producer of hit films like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, he started off a writer for the stage, like this play The Beauty Queen of Leenane, the first of a trilogy set in County Galway. And while McDonagh himself has said he has "respect for the whole history of films and a slight disrespect for theatre", it doesn't stop him writing pretty impressive plays like this one.

Having previously seen McDonagh's The Pillowman at The Playhouse, and an excellent version of Hangmen via NT Live, I was well aware of McDonagh's dark humour. Beauty Queen maintains that edge, with its tale of spinster Maureen, and her relationship with her oppressive and demanding mother Mag, ill, but still outwardly manipulative of events. It's dark, not quite as dark as The Pillowman perhaps, but like that play, features one truly disturbing torture scene, so, it's not for the faint-hearted. That's not to say it isn't funny, that is McDonagh's trademark, making you laugh while being pretty sure deep down you probably shouldn't be.

While there are also two male characters in this play, and they do drive events from afar, this is primarily about the two women of the piece, especially at first Mag. She is played incredibly well, by an unrecognisable Kimberly Vaughen, looking and embodying the frail creature Mag has become. Stooped, staggering, but with enough energy and glint of the eye, to still get about controlling, and trying to stop the relationships that her daughter attempts to have. It's an incredible performance, one of the best upon the Playhouse stage in recent times.

Her daughter Maureen performed by Kate Billingham wields just the right amount of desperation in the role, allowing the character enough room to develop into what she becomes as the story unfolds. It's a rightfully scary performance at times, but at its core, desperately sad.

The male characters, for the most part, offer the comic relief, and the larger than life characters. Richard Jordan as Pato Dooley is a likeable chap, and his offstage emotional reading of his letter is a particular highlight. Finally, Jof Davies' Ray Dooley is something else altogether, a livewire of a character, animated, fast-talking, willing to help, but no further than he can stand. It completes a quartet of brilliant performances, all brimming with strong and mostly maintained, Irish accents.

Liz Clark directs well, despite never being crowded of people, and it looks an absolute delight on Rod Arkle brilliant set, complete with appliances and even the very real, kitchen sink.

In fact, the whole thing combines into a great piece of theatre, which, yes, you can laugh at, despite often feeling you shouldn't be. It's challenging at times, and some of the themes will unquestionably touch a few nerves of some people watching. However, while one scene, can be truly uncomfortable, and the story doesn't end well, you can't help but admire the whole play and production as you leave, challenged and thinking, the theatre.

Performance reviewed: Saturday 16th March 2019 at the Playhouse Theatre, Northampton

The Beauty Queen Of Leenane ran until Saturday 16th March 2019 at The Playhouse Theatre, Northampton but have further dates on its tour. For details visit: whitecobraproductions.co.uk

For full details about the Playhouse Theatre visit their website at playhousenorthampton.com

Photos: Tom Jordan

Popular posts from this blog

Northampton Theatre Preview - September 2016

With the Summer downtime coming to an end for the theatres of Northampton, the curtain is ready to rise again on a new season of shows in the town. Top pick at Royal & Derngate has to be the return of the hit adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities. Adapted by Mike Poulton and directed by the R&D artistic directer James Dacre, this version first seen in 2014 plays for seven nights in the Royal before setting off on a national tour. Dates in Northampton are Saturday 10th to Saturday 17th with matinees on Wednesday, Thursday and the second Saturday. For those wanting to revisit the turbulant times of the 1989 political world, there is a chance to see Jonathan Maitland's touring Dead Sheep. Telling the story of the ramifications of Geoffrey Howe's sacking at the hands of PM Margaret Thatcher and her eventual downfall at the hands of this "dead sheep". It stars Steve Nallon, Paul Bradley and Graham Seed and runs at the Royal & Derngate be...

Review of Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The Rambert Dance Company is the oldest such company in Britain having first performed in 1926. However, despite this, this was my first encounter with the group in my ten years of theatre-going. Coupled with this, it was also my first encounter with Peaky Blinders , having never seen the show, and only knowing a few vague things about it. My companion for the evening however was very familiar with the show, allowing some background behind the show. It turns out though,  Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby needs a little more than a good bit of knowledge of the show, as despite this production having incredible style, there struggles to be a cohesive structure to the show and the storytelling. Much more than other dance shows as well. The first act does a whistle-stop tour of the first five seasons and while it is a feast on the eye, and on the ear, it gets extremely confusing at times. The second act is freestyle and drifts away from the stories tol...

Camden Fringe Review: FEET by Emma And Lawrence Wrote A Play at Etcetera Theatre, London

While some issue plays tend to miss the point of providing fun and entertainment as well as making their point on a relevant issue, FEET is certainly not one of them. Written, produced, directed and performed by the two-person team of Emma And Lawrence Wrote A Play, this is clearly a labour of love of the two, full names Emma Brown and Lawrence Smith, it is fun and engaging throughout. It's "issue" is loosely about selling your body for money or art and how far you might be willing to push it. Lucy Winwood (Emma Brown) is your typical young actress, struggling hard to get those money making roles, or roles in general, and in need of money she stumbles upon the world of feet fetishism (as you, of course, would) and slowly from just images of her feet sold online, it becomes feet in jelly and then finally personal meetings with clients for full on feet interaction. The path that FEET takes is that is this denigration of your body in selling your feet actually worse than...