Reviews – The Beauty Queen of Leenane
4 July 2025The Beauty Queen of Leenane – see production page
“The performances of the actors make this a memorable experience from start to finish.”
“McDonagh’s play gives the performers four colourful and richly detailed characters to play. The Irish accents used by all four actors are very convincing”
“Janie Lawson is superb as the daughter, Maureen… Her desperate longing is so well-played, the pain she feels is quite touching.”
“As the grasping, whining mother, Mag, Alice Ferguson plays her character’s fear of loneliness, her quiet and cunning malevolence as well as her calculated undermining of her daughter’s chance for happiness with a level of reality that is confronting as well as truthful.”
“Pat Dooley … is played with a masculine warmth and confidence by Bruce Hardie”
“Robbie Haltiner gives a colourful and very real performance as Ray Dooley“
– Len Power, Canberra Critics Circle
“For such a dark work, the play has great moments of humour and even comic action. This results from the writing of McDonagh, Clelland’s direction and the excellent timing by the cast.”
“Cate Clelland’s direction presents austere, yet at times, comic moments of human beings struggling to keep their personal realities alive in the face of despair.
“Alice Ferguson’s portrayal of the elderly Mag Foley is a picture of loneliness and a reduction to a shell of aged humanity cracking open that frightening sense of loss.”
“Janie Lawson’s portrayal of the daughter is impactful and evokes the sense of one’s fighting against destiny… Lawson always compels our attention. She drives the action forward … drawing out the complexity of such a character must be credited to (Lawson’s) skills and commitment.”
“The comfortable and intimate setting of the ACT Hub ensures the audience is not only a fly upon the wall, but is a participant…”
– Joe Woodward, CBR CityNews
“This is a strong solid production of a modern classic – at almost 30 years old, it’s a play that speaks to the gap between family and kinship, and to the destructive nature of need.”
“Janie Lawson and Alice Ferguson anchor the play as the longing, tired daughter and the bitter, needy mother, more alike than they’d like to think in their mutual battle.”
“Bruce Hardie as possible suitor Pato Dooley has a charming romanticism and delivers the largely expositional act-two-opening letter with gentle care, giving a sense of his own aging frustration and gentlemanly forbearance.”
“And Robbie Haltiner is deliciously irritating as the gossipy Ray Dooley, so caught up in his own petty issues that he never realises what he’s doing to the people around him.”
– Simon Tolhurst, That Guy Who Watches Canberra Theatre blog
“McDonagh has crafted four compelling characters, brought to life with commendable skill by this meticulously chosen cast.”
“Janie Lawson’s responses… are portrayed with impressive emotional insight”
“Alice Ferguson’s portrayal of Maureen’s mother, Mag, is also skilfully executed.”
– Bill Stephens, Canberra Critics Circle
“There are impressive performances all round.”
“There’s much ‘If only…’ in the feelings awoken by this piece.”
“A freezing cold night at ACT Hub but a focussed production and an absorbed audience kept the theatre warm.”
– Alanna Maclean, Canberra Critics Circle
Well-acted, engaging, satisfying, tight, well-timed, hard-hitting.
“This was a very tight production, well-timed, every gesture and line true to life, and as such it drew the audience right in from start to finish.”
“A combination of well-directed rehearsal and excellent technical support… made accessible the visual detail in costumes and set and a sense of immediacy that are difficult to attain in larger venues. Free-Rain Theatre Company’s production of ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ is well-acted and engaging, and the play itself is satisfying, even if the story’s revelations of how life may just hand you exactly what you deserve hit hard.”
– John P Harvey, Stage Whispers
“Highly commendable, This notable production of a classic Irish play deserves full houses.”
“Under the keenly observed direction of Cate Clelland and performed by an outstanding local cast, McDonagh’s dark comedy exposes the fragility of human nature… Every performance by these talented actors does justice to McDonagh’s play.”
“Free Rain’s production of ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ lives up to the drama’s litany of garnered awards. It is yet another of the excellent productions staged by ACT HUB, Free-Rain, Everyman and Chaika at the modest ACT HUB theatre.”
– Peter Wilkins, Canberra Critics Circle