The Beauty Queen Of Leenane At Theatre By the Lake, Keswick Review

Reviewed by Jo Hardy

As you may guess from the name, Keswick theatre has the most beautiful setting beside the lake.  There’s plenty of parking and the secret is to wait until 7pm to get your parking ticket then it will only cost you £1. It’s a lovely modern theatre and the staff are so welcoming. There’s a bar for pre show drinks and they take orders for drinks in the interval.

I entered the theatre to see a very atmospheric stage set, typical Irish cottage interior and I could hear the rain outside the cottage.  This set was used for the whole performance.

Set in Ireland The Beauty Queen of Leenane is written by Martin McDonagh who has won many awards. I had not heard of this play before so had no idea what to expect. There are only four actors and they are all fabulous.
The first character we see is Mag sitting in her rocking chair waiting for her daughter(Maureen) to return home.  When she does get home the mother is quick to dish out her demands, and we start to get a flavour of the relationship between mother and daughter I found it hard to decide who was the victim and who was the bully.  My thoughts on this bounced from one to the other throughout the first half of the play.  There’s a lot of talk between mother and daughter about complain, porridge and peeing in the sink. I saw flashes of madness in both characters but I also had some fondness for them both. It was very funny in parts.

The young neighbour Ray visits the cottage, a lovable character he adds to the comedy and also helps the audience see how devious mother Meg is. At the interval I was thinking this was a comedy but the second half took a very dark turn.  There were still some funny parts but also sadness and violence.  I couldn’t look at some of it. The audience were totally immersed and there was an audible gasp at one point when Meg destroyed a letter that would of changed Maureen’s life.

Pato was Maureen’s love interest and could be her way out of the dull life she was leading.  I had many questions during the show the biggest being who’s the craziest Meg or Maureen? this was answered during the second half.
I must mention the powerful performance of Pato.  Alone at the front of the stage he read out the letter he sent to Maureen.  So good he got a round of applause at the end of it.

On leaving the theatre I was surprised at how I was feeling a bit sorry for Maureen.  How could I after what she did? This show really takes you through the gamut of emotions. Theatre by the Lake have done it again, another fantastic production.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane is running until 11th November with some matinee performances.

Tickets priced at £10 – £39 are available from theatrebythelake.com.

Rating: 5/5