The Beauty Queen of Leenane
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The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a drama by Martin McDonagh.
It is a blend of black comedy, melodrama, horror and bleak tragedy. The story is set in an Irish village Leenane, Connemara in 1989. The entire play takes place in a shabby, poorly lit kitchen, resulting in a claustrophobic sense of entrapment.
The play centers on the life of Maureen Folan, a 40-year-old spinster who takes care of her 70 year-old, selfish and manipulative mother Mag. Sisters of Maureen have escaped into marriage and family life, but Maureen, with a history of mental illness, is trapped in a seriously dysfunctional relationship with her mother.
In the course of the play, the Folan cottage is visited by Pato Dooley and his younger brother Ray. Pato is a middle-aged construction worker fed up with having to live and work in England, disappointed by the limitations and loneliness of his life. The sameness of its day-to-day is tedious also for his brother, a non-threatening "bad boy" Ray.
The glimmer of a last-chance romance between Maureen and Pato sparks up in the first act, and continues in the second one with a notable monologue of Pato. The plot, full of deceptions, secrets and betrayals interspersed with turnabouts keeps surprising the reader. Hopes are raised just to get dashed.
The Beauty Queen of Leenane opened in 1996 in Galway, Ireland. It was produced by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway and it subsequently had a successful run in London and won four Tony Awards in New York.
[edit] Awards
- 1998 Tony Awards[1]
- Actress—Play: Marie Mullen, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- Featured Actor—Play: Tom Murphy, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- Featured Actress—Play: Anna Manahan, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- Director—Play: Garry Hynes, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- 1998 Outer Critics Circle Awards[2]
- Broadway Play: The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- 64th Annual Drama League Awards[3]
- Best Play: The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- 1998 Drama Desk Awards[4]
- Outstanding Play: The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- 1997-1998 Obie Awards[5]
- Distinguished Performance: Marie Mullen, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- 1998 Lucille Lortel Awards[6]
- Outstanding Play (tie): Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- Outstanding Director: Garry Hynes, The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- The Play has been selected for senior Drama study by the Board Od Studies New South Wales
[edit] References
- ^ 1998 Tony Awards. Retrieved on 2006-05-10.
- ^ 1998 Outer Critics Circle Awards. Retrieved on 2006-05-10.
- ^ 64th Annual Drama League Awards. Retrieved on 2006-05-10.
- ^ 1998 Drama Desk Awards. Retrieved on 2006-05-10.
- ^ 1997-1998 Obie Awards. Retrieved on 2006-05-10.
- ^ 1998 Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved on 2006-05-10.
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