MOMMIE McDEAREST
Irish playwright Martin McDonagh quickly makes it abundantly clear that dysfunctional mother/daughter relationships are not just the stuff of Hollywood. In the tiny town of Leenane in Western Ireland in the 1990s, Maureen is in a situation many families can relate to: she is the only daughter out of three willing to be caregiver to their unpleasant, persnickety mother Mag, who is in poor health. The other two are long gone, married with children; Maureen is a 40-year-old virgin whose self-esteem is continually undermined by Mag to keep the daughter single and dutiful. The plot revolves around Maureen finally getting some male attention and even a potential future with the genuinely nice neighbor, Pato Dooley. This threatens Mag, who must decide how far she will go in trying to protect her status quo at the risk to Maureen’s happiness. The results are riveting in Beauty Queen of Leenane, which is more of a drama with many very funny lines than it is an outright dark comedy.
Jessica John as Maureen and Deborah Gilmour Smyth as Mag
McDonagh’s great script made a speedy ascent from its debut in Galway, Ireland in 1996 to winning four out of the six Tonys it was nominated for in 1998. Backyard Renaissance has great material to build upon and their casting is exceptional. As Mag, Deborah Gilmour Smyth is brilliant in her use of subtle facials that project whatever nastiness is running behind her chess-like maneuvers of Maureen and others. As Maureen, Jessica John pulls off a Three Faces of Eve performance in which she ranges from melancholy victim to seductive temptress to not-quite-in-her-right-mind as she tries to cope. MJ Sieber is just lovely with a pure-hearted sweetness as Pato that walks the right line between pitiful and hopeful, with hints of Amos, the “Mr. Cellophane” character from Chicago. The cast is wrapped up perfectly with Nick Ritz Daugherty as Pato’s bumpkin brother Ray, who advances the plot with visits to this creepy household. Whether Daugherty’s success is inherently his skill at delightful comic relief through subtle clownery, and how much is Francis Gercke’s talent for directing both tension and humor, but Daugherty beautifully fleshes out what could have been a less interesting character.
MJ Sieber and Jessica John
Act I shows the acting chops of the four on stage and begins a plot that you do want to return to see more of, but the payoff is all in Act II, where the storyline goes from good to spellbinding. Every time you think, “Please don’t say that’¦” or “Please don’t do that’¦”, oh they do, unleashing more trouble for each other. Beauty Queen of Leenane has the delicious drama of a soap opera, but with better writing and minus the overacting.
Nick Daugherty
Dialect coach Grace Delaney holds back nothing with this cast, to the point where it takes a good minute to adapt the ear to the thickness of the brogue, but the effort and choice add richness to the setting. Tony Cucuzzella does a terrific job in scenic design, creating the tiny home the two women are forced to cope in.
While many shows tighten over the course of their run, Backyard Renaissance’s production just couldn’t be much more on point than it was opening night, worthy of packed houses in the weeks to come.
photos by Daren Scott
Beauty Queen of Leenane
Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company
Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 Tenth Ave in San Diego
performance nights vary; visit the site for times
ends on July 13, 2024
for tickets ($18-$40), call 619-337-1525 or visit Backyard Renaissance