Even as she teases her 70-year-old infirmed harridan of a mother Mag (Roxanne Fay) that women now have sexual agency to be “on top,” we learn that she’s a virgin and has only been kissed by just two men.
What is the logical outcome of being emotionally trapped while mentally fragile? Stevenson gives us a Maureen for whom we feel empathy despite the mistrust, hesitation, resentment and malevolence of being Mag’s sole caregiver for the last 20 years filled with insults, threats and physical abuse.
Fay’s portrait pulls no punches. She manages to sculpt a full-bodied selfish, nasty, cantankerous woman. One who sells herself to all as a helpless invalid to deny her daughter a normal life while staying fiendishly sharp.
David M. Jenkins (Pato) and Blake Smallen (Ray) shine as two brothers who serve to complicate the action. Jenkins also coached the consistent and authentic dialects and supervised the carefully wrought violence. As Pato, he inflames the loins of the desperate Maureen and counts on his brother Ray to deliver the impassioned letter that opens Act II and who provides welcome moments of comic relief embodying the stultifying boredom in this impoverished slice of pastoral Ireland.
Brian Smallheer’s rural cottage is tucked into a corner of the Shimberg. The plain stone walls sport long windows covered with Irish lace, which lighting designer, Jo Averill-Snell, uses to colorful theatrical effect at key moments, as well as isolating dramatic action to tighten the emotional grip on the audience. Stevenson is also responsible for the costumes which accurately reflect the rural economics as well as the character idiosyncrasies. Sound designer Jeremy Douglass delivers music evocative of the time and place throughout the action, but chills your soul with a subtle, incessant harp from the rear of the audience as the play climaxes; it’s a brilliant touch.
Logan Franke is credited with unspecified effects. Suffice it to say that whoever handled the unexpected and gasp-inducing climax is to be congratulated. We know from the careful development of tensions and Martin McDonagh’s introduction of props that we’re on a collision course with a dramatic moment. However, the effect upends our expectations.
Photo by James Zambon Productions
Director Paul Potenza (R), allows the quirky action in 'Beauty Queen' to unfold simply without unnecessary embellishment.
Director Paul Potenza, who also helmed the two most recent productions of the trilogy, allows the quirky action to unfold simply without unnecessary embellishment. He smartly allows the dialogue and the plot’s many twists and turns to do the heavy work. The ensemble doesn’t push, even in the most outrageous moments. In the past, I’ve felt that Jobsite sometimes allowed performers to grow too big for the intimate Shimberg playhouse. Here, however, everything seems perfectly calibrated.
McDonagh’s play is very dark, at turns outrageously funny and then surprisingly cruel. He’s crafted a “well-made play” in the mold of Ibsen or Shaw, but it’s also wholly modern. He leaves bread crumbs in the dialogue for us to follow and introduces objects and/or details that drive the actions forward but he and the cast are so skilled that there are still twists around every corner right until the end. Even when you think you understand the dénouement, surprise is the watchword.
“The Beauty Queen” (1996) is the first of three plays in a Leenane trilogy and was initially produced by Jobsite in 2003. They followed up with well-received productions of “The Lonesome West” (2013) and “A Skull in Connemara” (2017), but “Beauty Queen” was the show where playwright, Martin McDonagh, burst on the scene with Best Play nominations on both sides of the Atlantic.
McDonagh is most widely known to general audiences for his dark comedy-drama films which he both wrote and directed: In “Bruges” (2008) and “The Banshees of Inisherin” (2022).
All of his work combines morbid humor with surprising violence which grows from fast-paced dialogue that has audiences laughing out loud at one moment and gasping at what they’ve seen next. It’s quirky entertainment which is no surprise if you know that he’s been in a relationship with “Fleabag” (Prime) author-performer, Phoebe Waller-Bridge since 2017. If you’re drawn to off-center material, these are all worth pursuing to stream.
Mother-daughter angst is, of course, a dramatic staple—think Mommy Dearest, ‘night, Mother, or August Osage County to name a few. One English academic justifies these characters’ flaws by their being “denied the chance of escaping from the incestuous awfulness of Leenane.” They’re torn, especially Maureen, between dreams and despair. As Ray notes, “You can’t kick a cow in Leenane without some bastard holding a grudge for 20 years.” Jobsite has long proven an affinity for Irish playwrights, and especially for McDonagh’s work. Here, Potenza really scores and his acting ensemble grabs you by the throat and won’t let go.
Tickets to Jobsite Theater's "The Beauty Queen of Leanne," running on select nights through April 7 inside David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts' Shimberg Theater in Tampa are dynamically-priced and start at $40.
