Domestic Dysfunction
The Beauty Queen of Leenane at Beowulf Alley Theatre
Tucson Weekly
Director Sheldon Metz has chosen an excellent cast and coaxed enthralling performances from them. Jeffery's performance as Mag is entirely free of mean-old-lady caricature. Every moment feels completely, repellently real. It takes courage to fully commit to such an unlikable character, and that integrity ultimately wins our sympathy, if not our love.
Robert Anthony Peters and Rhonda Hallquist in
Beowulf Alley Theatre Company'sThe Beauty Queen of Leenane.
Hallquist wisely plays up Maureen's no-nonsense nature, leaving the sinister foreshadowing to others. Her warm, sympathetic energy lets us overlook her character's sometimes-cruel behavior. But once the gap between tone and conduct becomes too wide to ignore, we can look back and see how Hallquist planted the seeds of violence from the beginning.
Jared Stokes, as Maureen's gentleman caller, Pato, exudes enough compassion to shine in that toxic cottage. He's no saint—Pato's a bit handsy with the ladies—and Stokes paints a very human portrait of a man who's essentially good, but also weak.
Robert Anthony Peters rounds out the cast as Pato's brother, Ray. Ray is, in some ways, as blind to others' feelings as Mag is. But rather than adding to the gloom, Peters makes Ray's casual cruelty a comic, youthful counterpoint to the women's Pyrrhic warfare.
Read the entire review here: Domestic Dysfunction | Review | Tucson Weekly
