The Beauty Queen of Leenane: some lovely reviews

The show opened on Thursday 31 March and has been greeted by several generous and highly appreciative reviews already.

From Facebook:

"Saw a wonderful play at the Sewell Barn last night. Great performances. I mean great! Well done Gilly, Mandy, Christopher and Matt. Make an effort to see it. Great achievement by Team Montague! (The) Beauty Queen of Leenane. See it!"

"Please go and see this. Easily one of my favourite things I have seen at the Sewell Barn."

"Fantastic show, wonderful set, brilliant acting... don't miss it, congratulations to all involved."

From messages:

[to the Director]: "You clever, clever girl. It is a wonderful production, great set, wonderful cast, and seamless direction. 

Gilly was exceptionally good. She has such a presence on stage. Conniving, fearful, malicious and totally believable. I loved her! 

Mandy gave such a heartfelt performance. I so wanted it to end happily for her, but knew in my heart that it wouldn't. Please congratulate her for me.

Christopher Whitley, who is new to me, was lovely. I don't know if he is Irish, but he looked Irish. Soft, gentle and lovable. They would have been so happy!

Matt was funny and real, playing out of his comfort zone. A fine performance, Matt.

So, another winner Ms Montague, well done."

[to the Sewell Barn]: "Spot on performances last night, Sewell Barn company. Lovely use of the space too. We all enjoyed it very much. 3 peeps had never been to SB before but they will defo be back. They couldn't believe the fab standard of production. I was blasé "Oh it's always great here" and I wasn't telling porkies. Thanks SB for keeping really good theatre alive in Norwich."

From Twitter:

"Just seen The Beauty Queen of Leenane, again another amazing performance from @sewellbarn . Defiantly (sic!) recommend going to see."

And finally, a detailed and appreciative view from member Rob Fradley-Wilde:

"On a set so superb that, hours later, one seems to remember the smells of damp and peat smoke [and of course a certain other aroma], which weren't [I trust!] really present, four good actors gave us a grand interpretation of this not exactly profound but definitely rewarding and deservedly famous modern play.

Gill Tichborne's huge competence made a lovely meal of the selfish and cunning Mag, in strife against her disappointed daughter. Mag struck up in us a very happy though slightly horrified fondness, from the word 'go' – if I may put it that way. Maureen was played by Mandy Kiley with the consummate skill and, I want to say, a kind of fluidity, that enables this actress to so often completely become her character, and in this specific case, to play so believably with the movements of its fragile struggling mind. Another immaculate performance came from Christopher Whitley, very natural and true; what I shall always think of now as the ladder soliloquy moved everyone in the theatre. Indeed, I don't know if it has happened on other nights, but each of the play's scenes ended with spontaneous applause. Whitley's character might just have been a tiny bit too decent, bearing in mind the short time between the letter [definitely not imagined, as the railway station was] and his transatlantic engagement – though he was of course on a sort of rebound. The fourth cast member, Matt Rolls, convinced us admirably as the restless younger brother full of childish and provincial enmities, whose weakness precipitated the tragedies.

Irish accents varying from adequate to excellent; a really full house would have softened the accoustic and perhaps given some of the more dynamic passages a better precision to the ear. Nothing else at all to demur at. Ably and I think cleverly directed by Michelle Montague, this was one of those events where the definitions of amateur and professional overlap and blur into meaninglessness.
A few more performances still. Go if you can, for a very worthwhile and most enjoyable experience. [If for nothing else, it will gladden your heart to witness the strike to the vitals of the Health and Safety movement, delivered by that unsecured ladder and that unfenced platform!] Seriously, though - Thank you, everyone involved at the Sewell Barn, for such continuing excellence."

The Irish Guru

Martin McDonagh, the playwright of ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ wished the cast a warm good luck for the upcoming production at Sewell Barn. 

Hi Chris, (Chris is the actor playing the role of Paddy, and somewhat of an Irish guru himself)

The monologue/letter definitely shouldn't be read - it should exist in some strange place between composing it and saying it to Maureen...

The spotlight thing - the director should ignore that completely, i didn't even remember it being there.

Good luck!

Martin xx

To see the production of one of McDonagh’s first plays bought to life, book your tickets for ‘The Beauty Queen of Lennane’ at Sewell Barn Theatre 31 March-2 April & 6-9 April at 7:30 pm Matinee 9 April at 2:30 pm.

Kimberly Biscuits - A Nation Divided

McDonagh’s play ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ transports the audience to Emerald Isle, creating the sounds and tastes of Ireland. And what is an Irish home without some Kimberly biscuits in the tin? First made by Jacobs in 1893, and the name reputedly inspired after Rudyard Kipling’s novel “Kim”, the Kimberly is a confection which divides many. The sweet consist of two small brown round biscuits that are soft with a mild ginger flavouring, with a soft marshmallow filling between them, complete with a crust of sugar granules.  While some say they compare to cardboard in taste and texture, others would say they are the very finest biscuits to be produced in the whole of Ireland. 

To continue the debate (and to see an excellent dark comedy, which really is about more than just biscuits) book your tickets for ‘The Beauty Queen of Lennane’ at Sewell Barn Theatre  31 March-2 April & 6-9 April at 7:30 pm Matinee 9 April at 2:30 pm.

Check out the Facebook page for more information https://www.facebook.com/The-Beauty-Queen-Of-Leenane-555583941268220/?fref=ts

The Beauty Queen of Leenane Says Hello

On the tail of "The Go-Between", rehearsals are already underway for Sewell Barn’s newest play ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’. The first play ever written from acclaimed playwright Martin McDonagh, who went on to pen ‘The Lieutenant of Inishmore’ and the ‘Pillowman’, is a dark comedy depicting the dysfunctional relation between a spinster and her domineering mother. The wicked humour and twisted violence foreshadows McDonagh’s later works, which include screenplays ‘In Bruges’ and ‘Seven Psychopaths’. Of this razor-sharp mix of comedy and cruelty, so wittingly portrayed in The Beauty Queen, McDonagh says “I suppose I walk that line between comedy and cruelty because I think one illuminates the other. We're all cruel, aren't we? We are all extreme in one way or another at times and that's what drama, since the Greeks, has dealt with. I hope the overall view isn't just that though, or I've failed in my writing. There have to be moments when you glimpse something decent, something life-affirming even in the most twisted character. That's where the real art lies.”

The four local actors of the cast expertly bring this gem of a script to life, turning from the comic, the longing and the doolally at the drop of a hat, emoting laughter, tears or gasps of horror from a watching audience, as can only be expected from a McDonagh.