Great acting in a sometimes funny, sometimes painful play about life in the Irish countryside.

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August 2003 Main Street Stage has come up with another powerful show that neatly utilizes their narrow storefront playing area. The Beauty Queen of Leenane takes place in a claustrophobic run-of-the-mill Irish cottage in the small village of Leenane in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. The play centers…

by Gail M. Burns, July 2003 After preview performances last week, Main Street Stage officially opens their production of Martin McDonagh’s prize-winning play The Beauty Queen of Leenane tomorrow night. Set in the present day in the mountains of Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, The Beauty Queen of Leenane tells the darkly comic tale of…

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, March 2003 The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a deeply disturbing play. It is an alarming blend of hysterical comedy, grand melodrama, horrifying violence, and the most bleak tragedy. That being said, this production at the Ghent Playhouse is beautifully and powerfully performed and directed, and…