The Beauty Queen of Leenane

The Telegraph“An outstanding revival...” Rosaleen Linehan delivers a terrific tour de force as the monstrous Mag, a plump, dough-like figure dominating the action from her rocking chair with a brilliantly judged mixture of malice and self-pity...

The Observer“Indeed a nasty piece of work, but exquisitely so, and dreadfully funny...” McDonagh makes witty play with Irish stereotypes, but beneath the exaggerated speech and the cliches lies a depth of feeling and a psychological acuity less evident in his recent output...

Financial Times“Delicious in its own right...” McDonagh’s writing and Hill-Gibbins’ staging alike know the value both of charm and shock, of suddenness and exquisite inevitability, whether the last concerns Maureen’s dashed hopes or Mag’s chamber pot emptied into the sink...

this is london“This is surely the best deal in town…” This cracking revival of his 1996 breakthrough work reminds us once again what a gift McDonagh has for black comedy and what a J M Synge-like ear for language as spoken with a rich Irish accent...

Whatsonstage.com“A classic of mother and daughter warfare...” Rosaleen Linehan puts in a brilliant performance. MacDonagh's bitter sense of humour is reflected in a writing style as distinctive and individual as any of the writers – Pinter, Mamet, Orton – with whom he bears such honourable comparison...

The Stage“An unstoppable journey towards insanity...” Joe Hill-Gibbins’ revival serves the playwright admirably, starting so lightly that the audience is lulled into a complacent expectation of predictable ethnic humour that makes the progressive shocks all the more powerful...

Guardian“A powerful critique of contemporary Ireland...” Though Susan Lynch is too attractive to be plausible as a wallflower, she captures superbly the hints of Maureen's mental fragility. A play that actively engages the audience while at the same time puncturing many of Ireland's most hallowed myths...

The Independent“Richly enjoyable...” A blackly hilarious deconstruction of the drama of mutual recrimination and deathly symbiosis and an involving emotional work-out for the audience as the Hitchcockian tension escalates. Rosaleen Linehan is magnificent as the meddling matriarch...

Time Out“Not yet reviewed”

New Statesman“Not yet reviewed”