Shakespeare & Company Presents Martin McDonagh's THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, Now thru 9/15

Shakespeare & Company is proud to introduce Award winning playwright Martin McDonagh's work to its Bernstein Theatre repertoire with The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Directed by Matthew Penn, who also makes his debut with the Company, The Beauty Queen of Leenane features the indomitable Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer, long-time Company actor Elizabeth Aspenlieder, and newcomers Edmund Donovan and David Sedgwick. Steeped with razor sharp wit, humor and humanity, The Beauty Queen of Leenane runs tonight, August 8-September 15 in the Bernstein Theatre, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox MA.

Tickets are $10-$50, and Shakespeare & Company offers a wide range of discount options, including: group, student, senior citizen, military, teacher and our very popular 40% Berkshire Resident Discount. To view a complete schedule, receive a brochure, or inquire about discounts, please call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or visit www.Shakespeare.org. For customized group visits - which may include: artist talkbacks, tours, parties and catered events, contact the Group Sales office at (413) 637-1199, ext. 132. The Bernstein Theatre is air-conditioned, hearing aid assisted and wheelchair accessible. SPECIAL TALK BACK: On August 13th at 5pm patrons are invited to a special talk back with the cast and director before the show in the Bernstein Lobby.

Set in the small village of Leenane, County Galway in Ireland, The Beauty Queen of Leenane tracks the dysfunctional relationship between a mother and daughter who are locked in a dance of mutual loathing, which may prove more durable than any love. Matthew Penn, a veteran director of stage and screen, joins the artistic team for his first production at Shakespeare & Company, taking on this award winning and heartbreaking play. Irish writer Martin McDonagh has become one of the most powerful voices writing for stage and screen, and his critically acclaimed career began with a Tony Award-winning debut, The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

Tina Packer (Molly Ivans, Antony & Cleopatra, Hamlet, Women of Will, Shirley Valentine), returns to the Shakespeare & Company stage after closing her Off-Broadway run of Women of Will to take on the role of the formidable, aging and manipulative Mag. Elizabeth Aspenlieder (Parasite Drag, The Winter's Tale, Bad Dates) plays Maureen, her middle-aged virginal daughter in this unrelenting play of tyrannical dependence. Making their Shakespeare & Company debuts are Edmund Donovan (Hot Fun in the Summer Time, Macbeth) and David Sedgwick (A Moon for the Misbegotten, Three Sisters).

"McDonagh is such a smart writer," says Penn. "He inspires our imaginations in an almost Pinteresque way. He says as much with silence as he does with his dialogue. "The play is filled with despair and darkness living side by side with humor and hope," he continues. "It is written with such a raw veracity that it almost leaves you breathless. This is a play of passion, connection, love, hatred, suffocation and escape. I am honored to take this journey with such brave artists - all of whom I've asked to embrace this extraordinary dramatic work."

Critically acclaimed playwright and screenplay writer Martin McDonagh is known to push audiences outside of their comfort zone as he combines comedy and the surreal. American critics have recently dubbed McDonaghn as "the first great dramatist of the 21st century." The Beauty Queen of Leenane was McDonagh's first play to earn several awards, including a Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award. He has written close to a dozen plays, including the Tony Award winning, The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Penn states, "McDonagh creates a world of particular complexity... it is extraordinary that he is able to confront the painful and complex with unexpected wit and insight." McDonagh says, "I tend to push things as far as I can because I think you can see things more clearly through exaggeration than through reality."

Photo Courtesy of Shakespeare & Company

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