Martin McDonagh didn't exactly lack an audience before he started associating with the likes of Colin Farrell, on In Bruges, and Christopher Walken, who starred in the premiere of A Behanding in Spokane on Broadway earlier this year. The Londoner's dark, blood-soaked plays have proven hugely popular on both sides of the Atlantic since he burst on to the scene in 1996. But his audience has multiplied lately, and it now seems high time to follow the trail of blood back to the very first drips.
This is the first major London revival of The Beauty Queen of Leenane since the Royal Court production 14 years ago. Rosaleen Linehan and Susan Lynch are terrific as the mother and daughter locked into a destructive relationship in their cottage in Connemara, as is David Ganly as the local man back from England who threatens to unlock it. McDonagh makes witty play with Irish stereotypes, but beneath the exaggerated speech and the cliches lies a depth of feeling and a psychological acuity less evident in his recent output. This is indeed a nasty piece of work, but exquisitely so, and dreadfully funny.
