Full casting announced for a major revival of the darkly comic play The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Oscar-winning writer Martin McDonagh
- Orla Fitzgerald, star of The Young Offenders, and Adam Best from Giri/Haji will join Ingrid Craigie and Kwaku Fortune in this year’s major revival of Martin McDonagh’s award-winning darkly comic play, directed by Rachel O’Riordan
- Co-production between the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre opens in Chichester from 03 September to 02 October and London from 09 October to 06 November
The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre today announce full casting forThe Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh, writer of the award-winning blockbuster films Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and In Bruges. Orla Fitzgerald, star of The Young Offenders, and Adam Best as seen in Giri/Haji will join Ingrid Craigie and Kwaku Fortune in the highly anticipated major revival of McDonagh’s darkly comic debut play which opens at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre from 03 September to 02 October before transferring to the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre from 09 October to 06 November, directed by the Lyric’s Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan.
Orla Fitzgerald will play Maureen. She is well known for playing Orla Walsh in all three series of BBC 3’s The Young Offenders and was nominated for Best Actress and Best Breakthrough Artist at the Irish Film and Television Awards for her portrayal of Sinéad in Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Adam Best, recently seen in the Netflix series Giri/Haji, and previously in Peaky Blinders, Silent Witness and Holby City, is announced to play Pato. They will join award-winning stage, film and television actor Ingrid Craigie who has worked extensively in Ireland and the UK, West End and on Broadway and plays Eileen Pepper in the BBC drama Roadkill and Molly in television movie Forever In My Heart, and Kwaku Fortune who recently appeared as DS Marks in Line of Duty, Philip in Normal People and Julian in the feature film Animals, as previously announced.
Martin McDonagh is the multi-award winning writer and director of hit films Six Shooter, In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, winner of four Golden Globes and two Oscars. His debut play The Beauty Queen of Leenane premiered in Galway in 1996 and quickly established him as one of Ireland’s most exciting new writers. The West End transfer received an Olivier Award nomination for Play of the Year, and on Broadway it won four Tony Awards. For theatre, he has also written the Tony Award nominated The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Cripple of Inishmaan, and the Olivier Award winning Best New Play, Hangmen.
The Beauty Queen of Leenane is directed by Rachel O’Riordan, designed by Good Teeth Theatre, with lighting design by Kevin Treacy, music and sound design by Anna Clock, fight direction by Kev McCurdy and casting by Sam Stevenson.
In the mountains of Connemara, County Galway, Maureen Folan – a plain, lonely woman, tied to her manipulative and ageing mother, Mag – comes alive at her first and possibly last prospect of a new life. But Mag has other ideas; and her interference sets in motion a train of events that leads inexorably towards the play’s breathtaking conclusion.
The show will mark the fourth Main House production of the Lyric’s reopening season following the critically acclaimed production of Out West, the upcoming community play Heart of Hammersmith celebrating West London stories (12-14 August) and the summer family classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show (17 to 28 August). Tickets are available at www.lyric.co.uk
Adam Best will play Pato. His television credits include roles in Peaky Blinders, Giri/Haji, Doctors, Silent Witness, Waking the Dead, Holby City and The Catherine Tate Show. On stage he has performed in Cyrano De Bergerac (Jamie Lloyd Company), The Duchess of Malfi (Royal Lyceum/Citizens Theatre), Hedda Gabler (National Theatre UK tour), Twelfth Night, The Plough and the Stars, The Silver Tassie (National Theatre), Lions and Tigers (Shakespeare’s Globe), Public Enemy (Young Vic), This Restless House, Hamlet, Crime and Punishment (Citizens Theatre), By the Bog of Cats (Wyndham’s). Adam is an Associate of the Original Theatre Company. Film credits include: The Little Stranger.
Orla Fitzgerald will play Maureen. She is well known for playing Orla Walsh in all three series of BBC 3’s The Young Offenders. Theatre credits include the title role in Josephine K and The Algorithms (Abbey Theatre), Valerie in Conor McPherson’s The Weir, also directed by Rachel O’Riordan (Sherman Theatre), Inside The GPO (Fishamble), Before Monsters Were Made (15th Oak Productions), Digging For Fire for which she received a Best Actress nomination in the Irish Times Theatre Awards (Project Arts Centre), Playboy Of The Western World, Uncle Vanya (Lyric Belfast). Notable film work includes Sinéad in Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes The Barley for which she was nominated for Best Actress and Best Breakthrough Artist at the Irish Film and Television Awards, The Guarantee and Speed Dating. Television credits include Taken Down, The C Word, Holby Blue, Law and Order UK, The Last Furlong, Love Is The Drug, Pure Mule: The Last Weekend, Cardinal Burns.
Ingrid Craigie will play Mag. Ingrid is an award-winning stage, film and television actor and has worked extensively in Ireland and the UK, in the West End and also on Broadway. She has just completed filming the role of Rita in feature film You Are Not My Mother directed by Kate Dolan. Ingrid’s other recent credits include the role of Eileen Pepper in BBC series Roadkill, Molly in television movie Forever In My Heart, Una in feature film Death Of A Ladies’ Man, Harding alongside Brendan, Brian and Domhnall Gleeson in Psychic for Sky Arts, and the IFTA-Nominated performance as Mary in Season One of Virgin Media drama Blood. On stage she was recently seen in the role of the Duchess of York in Druid’s critically acclaimed production of Richard III, directed by Garry Hynes at the Lincoln Center in 2019, Aunt Nonnie in Sweet Bird of Youth directed by Jonathan Kent at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Previous credits also include The Cripple of Inishmaan (West End and Broadway).
Kwaku Fortune will play Ray. He most recently performed in Fishamble’s Tiny Plays 2020 and Druid Debuts 2020. His most recent screen credits include Line Of Duty for the BBC, Normal People directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald for BBC 1 & 3 and Hulu, and Animals alongside Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, directed by Sophie Hyde. On stage he most recently played the role of Eli in Asking For It at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Peat directed by Tim Crouch, and the role of Dara Mood in Caitríona McLaughlin’s acclaimed production of Marina Carr’s Raftery’s Hill directed for the main stage at the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s National Theatre.
Martin McDonagh is a writer and director. Theatre credits include: The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Druid Theatre, West End, Broadway), A Skull in Connemara (Royal Court, off-Broadway), The Lonesome West (Druid Theatre, Royal Court, Broadway), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (RSC, West End, Broadway), The Cripple of Inishmaan (National Theatre, Broadway), The Pillowman (National Theatre, Broadway), A Behanding in Spokane (Broadway), Hangmen (Royal Court, West End, Broadway) and A Very Very Very Dark Matter (Bridge Theatre). Film as Director and Writer includes: Six Shooter, In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Rachel O’Riordan is Artistic Director and CEO of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre where she launched her critically acclaimed debut season in Autumn 2019 with a triumphant adaptation of A Doll’s House by Tanika Gupta. She recently co-directed the reopening production Out West. Previously, Rachel was Artistic Director and CEO of Sherman Theatre, Wales from 2014 and transformed the venue, winning The Stage’s prestigious Regional Theatre of the Year Award in 2018. Directing credits include the Olivier award-winning Killology and Iphigenia in Splott. She was Artistic Director of Perth Theatre, Scotland between 2011 and 2014 and won The Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland for Best Director and Best Ensemble for Macbeth. From 2002 to 2011, Rachel co-founded and ran Ransom Productions in Northern Ireland where projects included the award-winning West End show Hurricane and Write on the Edge, a three-year programme to develop female writers in post-conflict Northern Ireland. She has been named as one of the most influential people in UK Theatre in the Stage 100. Published work includes Women in Irish Theatre.
Good Teeth Theatre is a theatre design studio founded by artists and designers. They formed Good Teeth to expand their design landscape through broadening participation and in-depth material research. Previous design collaborations include: Dumb Waiter (Hampstead Theatre), Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare’s Globe), Skylight (Theatr Clwyd), Little Shop Of Horrors (Royal Exchange, Manchester), While We’re Here (Bush Theatre), Pilgrims (Hightide, Theatr Clwyd), German Skerries, Jess And Joe (The Orange Tree Theatre), Breeders (St James Theatre), Lost In Yonkers (Watford Palace Theatre), Dances Of Death (Gate Theatre), Foxfinder (Finborough Theatre), Life Of Stuff, Many Moons (Theatre503). www.goodteeththeatre.co.uk
Kevin Treacy’s lighting design for The Beauty Queen of Leenane will be his 13th collaboration with Director Rachel O’Riordan. Previous shows include A Doll’s House (Lyric), Killology (Royal Court Theatre – Olivier Award 2018 for the Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre), The Cherry Orchard, The Weir (Sherman Theatre, Cardiff), Bird (Royal Exchange, Manchester), Unfaithful (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh); Macbeth, The Seafarer (Perth Theatre, Scotland), Come on Home (Abbey Theatre, Dublin). Opera Credits include – L’Elisir d’Amore (Norwegian National Opera), The Turn of The Screw (Kolobov Novaya, Moscow), Orpheus in the Underworld (Scottish Opera), Macbeth (Welsh National Opera), Die Fledermaus (Wermland Opera, Sweden) Faramondo (Handel Festspiele, Göttingen Germany). Albert Herring (Grange Festival).
Anna Clock is a composer, sound designer and musician based in London via Dublin. As a composer and instrumentalist they have written for the RTE Contempo quartet, Tonnta, New Dublin Voices, Kirkos Ensemble, Node Ensemble, Dulciana, Gamelan Nua and with their own groups Low Tide and Téada Orchestra. Performance and recordings include with The Gramophones (Another Planet), 45 North, Gavin Prior, David Turpin, Emma O’Reilly, Hozier and David Lacey. Anna’s first release was Celestial.They are a co-director of Very Clock theatre company. Other theatre credits include: Crave (Chichester Festival Theatre); Inside (Orange Tree Theatre); I Wanna Be Yours (Paines Plough & Tamasha, UK Tour), Shuck ‘n’ Jive, Soft Animals (Soho Theatre), Admin (Vault Festival, Live Collision & Dublin Fringe), Anguis (Edinburgh Festival), Summer Fest (NYT), Armadillo (The Yard Theatre), Looking Forward (Battersea Arts Centre), Mary and Maria (Camden People’s Theatre), Twelfth Night (Southwark Playhouse).
Kev McCurdy is an Equity Fight Director. He is also the Co-Founder, Chairman, Fight Examiner and Senior Stage Combat Tutor of the Academy of Performance Combat (APC). He works in a wide range of disciplines across film, television, and theatre. Selected theatre credits include: Les Misérables (Sondheim & UK Tour); Cinderella (Gillian Lynne Theatre) Phantom of The Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre); Antony and Cleopatra (RSC); Tina The Musical (Stade Entertainment Nederlands), An Octoroon, Anthony & Cleopatra, Pericles, Mosquitoes, Barbershop Chronicles (National Theatre); West Side Story (Curve); Only Fools and Horses (Theatre Royal Haymarket); The Comedy About A Bank Robbery (UK Tour); Hamlet (Almeida); Fairview (Young Vic); White Noise & Holy Shit (Kiln); All About Eve (Noël Coward Theatre). Film includes: Season Of The Witch; John Carter Of Mars; Journey’s End; Kenya. Television includes: EastEnders; The A List; Hollyoaks; Craith/Hidden.
Sam Stevenson CDG is a freelance casting director working in theatre, television and film. Her diverse projects include productions for the BBC, Sky, Warner Bros, National Theatre and RSC. For many years she worked in partnership with Gemma Hancock and in 2010 they were nominated for an Emmy for their work on the BBC miniseries, Emma. Theatre includes: Tartuffe, Translations, Home, I’m Darling, The Great Wave, Common, Twelfth Night, Ugly Lies the Bone (National Theatre), Noises Off (Lyric Hammersmith & West End), Love, Love, Love (Lyric Hammersmith), This House (Headlong) and Labour of Love (Headlong/MGC), Frost/Nixon (Sheffield Crucible), For Services Rendered (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Royale (Bush), An Inspector Calls, One Man, Two Guvnors, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Waiting for Godot (West End), 55 Days (Hampstead Theatre). Television includes: the BAFTA award winning Don’t Take My Baby, Silent Witness, Emma. Film includes: Treasures, Leave to Remain, Private Peaceful, Babel (UK Casting).