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DRAMA
Thursday 22 to Sat 24 October 2009 at 8pm
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Lyric Theatre
Tickets: Thur €15, Fri & Sat €18/€15
Friends: Personal 3 for 2, Couples 4 for 2, Business 6 for 3
NB: Contains strong language, sexual references and scenes of violence. Not suitable for under 15s.
MEAL DEAL SPECIAL OFFER
For just €30 per person you can see the play and enjoy a two course meal at one of the following participating restaurants:
Beetroot (074 912 9759)
Bella Rosa (087 778 3836)
The Oak Tree (074 912 5892)
How to avail of this special offer - purchase a ticket for €15 by calling our box office on 074 912 0777 then your present your ticket at the restaurant and enjoy a two course meal for just €15. We advise prebooking your table as our meal deals have proved very popular.
Written by Martin McDonagh
Directed by Richard Croxford
“An outstanding first play that makes you impatient for more McDonagh” The Guardian
Multi award winning The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a tale of love, hate, passion and insanity that will shake you to your very core…The cast includes Hollywood actress Geraldine Hughes (Gran Torino, Rocky Balboa, Pumpgirl) as Maureen Foley.
Above: Geraldine Hughes stars as Maureen Foley.
This modern Irish classic from the writer/director of In Bruges is full of clever twists, bitter tragedy and scathing black comedy with psychological suspense to rival any Hitchcock film.
Set in the late 80s, the play centres on the claustrophobic relationship between a domineering mother Mag (Stella McCusker) and her daughter Maureen (Geraldine Hughes) trapped in their simple rural cottage in the west of Ireland. Both are bound by blood and both are driven by desperation, and when local bachelor Pato (Stephen Darcy) offers Maureen a chance for romantic happiness, a series of shocking and irrevocable events ensues. The play is interspersed with black comedy and not only does Ray Dooley’s (Matthew McElhinney) character offer light relief he also offers an outside eye into the world of insanity that Maureen and Mag are trapped in.
Above: Stella McCusker and Matthew McElhinney
More about the production
The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a modern Irish classic: an internationally acclaimed masterpiece from a most talented writer/ director. In 1998 Martin McDonagh’s debut play won Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play; Drama League Award for Best Play; Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play; Outer Critics Circle Award Best Broadway Play; and was nominated for the Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Tony Award for Best Play.
Geraldine Hughes is well known for her Hollywood roles in Rocky Balboa starring opposite Sylvester Stallone and most recently for her role in Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. After graduating from UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television, Geraldine wrote and starred in her one-woman play The Belfast Blues. Her other theatre credits include Pumpgirl (Manhattan Theatre Club) the Tony nominated Translations, The Cripple of Inishmaan and The Weir. She has also appeared on TV in episodes of ER and on Law and Order.
Stella McCusker has a long association with the Lyric Theatre where she made her debut as Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer. She has special memories of A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie and Ghosts which also played at the National Theatre in Oslo. Stella is a prolific actress whose other Lyric Theatre credits include Tea in a China Cup, Belle of the City of Belfast, Riders to the Sea, Desert Lullaby, The Memory of Water, We Do It for Love and An Ideal Husband.
Stephen Darcy trained at Trinity College Dublin and RADA and is making his Lyric debut. Stephen won a bursary through the Irish Times Theatre awards and his theatre credits include The Rover, Twelfth Night, Starving and The Shaughraun for the Abbey Theatre.
Matthew McElhinney’s talent is in the blood. The son of Ian McElhinney and Marie Jones, Matthew’s natural acting ability shone through in Richard Attenborough’s epic movie Closing the Ring and in Liam Neeson's Five Minutes of Heaven.
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