The Beauty Queen of Leenane

“There are plenty of other things that are no less dangerous, and could finish you off just as easily. Perhaps even more easily.” “Such as?” “Well, for instance, this stinking little town of ours.”

In a remote town in Ireland’s Connemara Mountains live two women: Maureen, a thin, plain spinster, and her elderly, infirm mother, Mag. Maureen’s days are filled with hatred for her mother. She cannot stand Mag’s hypochondria and manipulative ways, her inability to make even soup or porridge, or the fact that every morning she empties her chamber pot into the kitchen sink.

One day, the neighbours, brothers Pat and Ray, invite Maureen to a farewell party for their uncle. Maureen decides to go and spends the night with Pat, whom she brings home. He becomes Maureen’s first boyfriend—and her ticket out of life with her manipulative mother and their small town. But Mag’s manipulative ways and Maureen’s complicated past stand in the way of her search for happiness. Will Maureen manage to escape the grip of small-town life and monotony? Or is reality not quite what it seems?

Director Ieva Stundžytė says: “I first encountered the playwright’s work while studying at LMTA, when I saw Jonas Vaitkus’s production of The Pillowman at the Youth Theatre, and The Beauty Queen of Leenane, directed by Gytis Padegimas, during the Klaipėda Drama Theatre’s tour in Vilnius. What stayed with me was not the productions themselves, but above all Martin McDonagh’s writing and the impressions it left: themes so sharp they make you uncomfortable; playful, controversial dialogue that seems written with an effortless touch; paradoxical situations that are somehow deeply recognisable; and black humour verging on the absurd.

“Women are also very important to me—as actors, as characters, and in the broader sense. I consciously look for material for productions that is for women and, though not necessarily about women, is made with women. Descriptions such as ‘beautiful’ or ‘strong’ when applied to a woman are, in my view, profoundly ambiguous. Beauty means being yourself and being free from other people’s opinions; it means feeling that you matter to yourself, that you care for and love yourself. Strength means acknowledging your exhaustion, anger and hurt; giving legitimacy to your full emotional range; and exposing stereotypes. In creating this production, I try to distil all of this and, taking the play as my point of departure, bring it to life.”

The project is funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.