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A Tony-winning dark comedy about a dysfunctional family is taking the stage at the Church in the Middle of the Block Cultural Center.
Things Unseen Theatre will present “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
The story takes place in the small Irish village of Leenane in a cottage where Maureen Folan, a 40-year-old spinster, lives with her 70-year-old mother, Mag.
“It’s a terrific play – I’ve seen it performed and the audience loved it. It has humor, suspense, sorrow and more,” Valerie Stratton, who plays Mag, wrote in an email.
The play won several awards in 1998, including four Tony awards and the Drama Desk award for Outstanding Play.
“It’s somewhat of a violent play” about “a dysfunctional family,” director Russell Stiles said.
The play’s writer is often compared to playwright Conor McPherson, “but where … McPherson is very subtle and somewhat classy, McDonagh is brutal and tough and (there is) lots of violence,” Stiles said.
The area of Ireland where the play is set is “beautiful, the little Irish cottages, and the hills and valleys and the farmers out in the fields, but then McDonagh let’s you come inside the cottage and take a look, and what you see inside isn’t so pretty. … I think a lot of families have on the surface … the beautiful family portrait, but if you turn the portrait around and you get to look inside you will see some things that maybe aren’t so nice. I think that’s what (the audience is) going to feel when they come out of it. I hope they do,”Stiles said.
Joining Stratton of Altoona on the stage are: Allyssa Baker of Hollidaysburg as Maureen; William Benson of Altoona, playing Pato Dooley, a love interest; and Luke Archey of Hollidaysburg, playing Ray Dooley, Pato’s teenage brother who is a comic relief.
“What I find very, very challenging in the play is that it’s written very much successfully through two women’s viewpoints on politics, on family, on what constitutes a relationship, and there is a lot of sparring between them. The older generation versus … the younger generation, and they go through some pretty tough things as they spar throughout the play,” Stiles said.
Baker auditioned for the play for several reasons, including the challenge of learning a new accent, and the opportunity to finally work with Stiles, she said in an email.
“I’ve seen some shows he’s directed in the past, and I’ve always been impressed with the quality of his productions,” she said.
She also “auditioned because I was drawn to the script and the character that I portray on stage. I really enjoy participating in shows that take place in a dark and twisty world,” she said.
Baker loves her character, “which is very bizarre to say considering all that she is going through in her life,” she said. “She’s not a particularly remarkable person, but she does have a lot of guts. Within the time span of the play, she fulfills some of her deep-seated fantasies in the midst of her demise. It’s both beautiful and tragic.”
As for what she hopes for the audience: “Ideally, I want them to find humor in the show,” she said. “The more you laugh in the first three quarters of the show, the more shocking you’ll find the ending, and that’s the best part.”
Mirror Staff Writer Amanda Gabeletto is at 949-7030. Follow her on Twitter (@AmandaGabeletto), Facebook (Amanda Gabeletto Altoona Mirror) and on her Mirror blog “House of Gab” at www.altoonamirror.com.