Martin McDonagh's Black Comedy

Shot through with his unmistakable jet black humor, The Beauty Queen of Leenane was the first play from the pen of Michael McDonagh (The Cripple of Inishmaan, In Bruges). Produced in Galway in 1996 by the fledgling theatre company Druid, Beauty Queen was an overnight sensation, transferring to London and then Broadway, where it won four Tony Awards. Centered on the poisonous and unpredictable relationship between a mother and daughter, it's a boisterously grotesque tale that careens backwards and forwards between shocking violence and belly laughs. Catch it as this brand new production from Spokane Civic Theatre, coming to the stage this May.

What is 'Beauty Queen About?

Maureen, a middle-aged spinster who has only kissed two men in her life, lives with her demanding mother Mag in the remote Irish village of Leenane. The pair's relationship is heated and erratic, each with intimate knowledge of how to needle the other to breaking point. So when Maureen picks up local construction worker Pato Dooley at a party, and brings him home for the night, Mag sets her wits to breaking the two lovebirds apart, a course of action which will end very, very badly.