MAJOR REVIVAL OF MARTIN MCDONAGH’S THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE OPENING THIS AUTUMN IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH THE LYRIC HAMMERSMITH THEATRE AND CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE
MAJOR REVIVAL OF MARTIN MCDONAGH’S THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE OPENING THIS AUTUMN IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH THE LYRIC HAMMERSMITH THEATRE AND CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE
- AWARD-WINNING, DARKLY COMIC PLAY BY MCDONAGH WILL OPEN AT CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE FROM 03 SEPTEMBER TO 02 OCTOBER 2021 BEFORE TRANSFERRING TO THE LYRIC HAMMERSMITH THEATRE, LONDON FROM 09 OCTOBER TO 06 NOVEMBER
- DIRECTED BY THE LYRIC’S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR RACHEL O’RIORDAN AND STARRING INGRID CRAIGIE AND KWAKU FORTUNE WITH FURTHER CASTING TO BE ANNOUNCED
- TICKETS FOR THE LONDON RUN ON SALE TODAY AT WWW.LYRIC.CO.UK
The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre today announces a major revival of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, the Tony Award-winning play by Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; The Lieutenant of Inishmore), directed by Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan in a new co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre. The play will open at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre where it runs from 03 September to 02 October before transferring to the Lyric from 09 October to 06 November. The production will star Ingrid Craigie(Roadkill; The Cripple of Inishmaan) and Kwaku Fortune (Line of Duty; Normal People) with further casting to be announced. Tickets for the Lyric are on sale today at www.lyric.co.uk
The production will be designed by Good Teeth Theatre, with lighting design by Kevin Treacy, music and sound design by Anna Clock 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 loving relationship. 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 Beauty Queen of Leenane was Martin McDonagh’s debut play which premiered in Galway in 1996, produced by Ireland’s Druid Theatre Company, and 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 the play received six Tony Award nominations and won four.
The Beauty Queen of Leenane was originally announced as part of Rachel O’Riordan’s inaugural season as Artistic Director of the Lyric for Autumn 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. The Lyric’s reopening season will launch in summer 2021 with the world premiere trilogy Out West featuring plays by Tanika Gupta, Simon Stephens and Roy Williams running from 18 June to 24 July, followed by Heart of Hammersmith, the Lyric’s first large-scale community play celebrating West London stories which runs from 12-14 August, ahead of The Beauty Queen of Leenane from 09 October to 06 November.
CAST BIOGRAPHIES
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.
CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES
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. She was appointed in February 2019 and launched her critically acclaimed debut season in Autumn 2019 featuring a triumphant adaptation of A Doll’s House by Tanika Gupta and Love, Love, Love by Mike Bartlett both of which she directed. Rachel will be co-directing the Lyric’s reopening production of Out West in June 2021 ahead of Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane in autumn, co-produced with Chichester Festival Theatre. Previously, Rachel was the Artistic Director and CEO of Sherman Theatre from February 2014 – February 2019. During her tenure the theatre was transformed into a vibrant, exciting and influential producing theatre, winning The Stage’s prestigious Regional Theatre of the Year Award in 2018. Her credits as a director for theatre include: The Cherry Orchard; the Olivier award-winning Killology (with the Royal Court); Bird (with the Royal Exchange) and Iphigenia in Splott (also at the National Theatre; England tour, Edinburgh Festival, Schaubūne, Berlin and off-Broadway).
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).
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).