Seeing this again after 25 years made me realise what an astonishing debut it was for Martin McDonagh, then only 26. In the space of just seven years, it was followed by the other two parts of the Leenane trilogy, the first two parts of the Inishmaan trilogy (the third is unproduced but may be about to become a film) and The Pillowman. We then lost him to film, apart from 2015’s brilliant return with Hangmen and 2018’s disastrous one with A Very Very Very Dark Matter. The two Inishmaan’s have had recent successful, high profile West End outings, but this is only the second revival in London of any of the Leenane’s since the Young Vic mounted it in 2010 and its great to see it again.
Spinster Maureen lives with her mother Mag in a remote cottage in County Galway. Their relationship is brittle. Maureen’s two sisters have escaped and she’s left to care for her mother, which she resents. She’s 40 and has missed out on life. Mag expects her to wait on her, but Maureen’s resentment leads to cruelty. When neighbour Pato returns from London, Maureen smells freedom, but Mag sees desertion and they both try to out-manipulate the other. It all ends in tears, of course. Bloody families.
It’s superbly plotted and the tension builds brilliantly to it’s tragic conclusion. It’s very dark but totally believable. There were moments when I had to turn my head. Director Rachel O’Riorden’s production starts slowly but broodingly, then draws you in and grips you. Ingrid Craigie and Orla Fitzgerald are simply brilliant as Mag and Maureen, sparring incessantly, though the mother – daughter bond never completely disappeared. Adam Best and Kwaku Fortune provide excellent support. The design by partnership Good Teeth Theatre is seedy and gothic, providing an atmospheric setting for what unfolds.
I now so want to see A Skull in Connemara and The Lonesome West again. Someone? Please?
Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog 
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