THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE. To 27 November.

York

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE
by Martin McDonagh

Theatre Royal To 27 November 2004
Tue-Sat 7.30pm
Audio-described/BSL Signed/Talkback 25 Nov
Runs 2hr 5min One interval

TICKETS: 01904 623568
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 November

A cold Irish blast in a vigorous production.Melancholy ould Irish tunes sound out, gentle as the peat smoke issuing from the cottage chimney, while the local lads call on mother and daughter Mag and Maureen. To be sure, Ray's brother Pato's only back a short time from being a London construction worker, and Ray has a temper. But life in this place is peaceful as -

as a wild night in a ghetto of hell. This is the land of Saints and etc seen by one of its sons grown up near London's Elephant and Castle. An element of Synge's fantastical comedy a century ago playboy Christy Mahon stoving his dad's head in with a loy, but the old man surviving to argue back - is reborn in a comedy of cruelty and madness.

Old Mag is cunning, wearing away at others till she gets her way - Tessa Worsely craftily watchful and wary, pacing her remorseless stubbornness. As daughter Maureen, Marianne March is a different physical type, tall and slim, elegantly self-aware (mucky wellies apart, it's hard to imagine her with the chickens). March hints early the danger lurking under this exterior. Marcus Romer's production rightly casts Paul M Meston as a greying Pato, the man she hopes to marry who sets out to America as working-boy of the western world. It's a reminder of time passing Maureen by.

And for all she does, she remains the victim. Romer makes clear the way Delia Murphy's song The Spinning Wheel' is used, a spun-out account of a girl slipping away from her grandmother to her lover. First time it plays on the radio, Maureen's in a new minimal black dress advancing on her man; second time (at the play's end) in tight funeral garb trailing defeated to her sad inheritance, the old woman's bedroom. It's a long-sustained close, but as the empty chair's left rocking, all hope drained away, it's justified.

Good work from Jamie Beamish as Pato's, limited attention span brother who just avoids being another victim. Romer should have persuaded Meston to enunciate more precisely when speaking fast but this is overall a desirable revival.

Ray: Jamie Beamish
Maureen: Marianne March
Pato: Paul M Meston
Mag: Tessa Worsley

Director: Marcus Romer
Designer: Liam Doona
Lighting: Ciaran Bagnall
Musical Director: Christopher Madin
Fight Director: Richard Ryan

2004-11-22 08:10:40