The Beauty Queen of Deenane

Congratulations to all four members of the cast of this remarkable play by Martin McDonagh. The set of the cottage in Connemara owned by Mags and Maureen Folan was truly amazing. 'Run down' is hardly a strong enough definition. The two main characters were Maureen Folan [played by Donnamarie Donnelly] and her elderly mother Mags [Sheila Eyre]. The other two members of the cast were brothers Ray and Pato Dooley [Alex Nicol and Nick Clayton]. They all gave nigh on faultless performances as their hopes, dreams and fears were revealed. I found this play quite riveting in its intensity and indepth revelations of human frailties. There was a blind lady's guidedog in the audience and she gave an occasional 'woof' of appreciation, too. The lighting was extremely good and the sound effects were most realistic. This was a rattling good play...and made you think quite seriously about all sorts of important issues.

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