The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh

The Beauty Queen of Leenane is set in the mountains of Connemara, County Galway. The Beauty Queen of Leenane tells the darkly comic tale of Maureen Folan, a plan, lonely woman in her early forties and Mag, her manipulating aging mother, whose interference in Maureen's first and possibly final chance of a loving relationship sets in motion a train of events that leads inexorably towards the play's terrifying denouement.

Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh was born in London in 1971 to expatriate Irish parents. His plays include The Beauty Queen of Leenane (The Abbey, Peacock Stage, Dublin, 1996 / London, Royal Court Theatre, 1997). The play is the first in his Connemara Trilogy, which also includes A Skull in Connemara (1997) and The Lonesome West (1997). His latest play is The Pillowman (London, The National Theatre, 2003). His plays are published as The Cripple of Inishmaan (Methuen New Theatrescripts, 1997); Martin McDonagh Plays (including The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Connemara, and The Lonesome West, London, Methuen New Theatrescripts, 1998); and The Pillowman (London, Faber & Faber, 2004). He has been resident playwright at the Royal National Theatre in London, and has won numerous awards, including the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, and four Tony Awards for The Beauty Queen of Leenane when it opened on Broadway. His short film, Six Shooter, won an Academy Award. He has also written and directed In Bruge, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Books on his work include The Theatre of Martin McDonagh: A World of Savage Stories by editors Lilian Chambers Eamonn Jordan (Dublin, Carysfort Press, 2006). He lives in London.