Beauty Queen Of Leenane, The

Vicious old Mag Folan is cagily and savagely brought to contemptible life by ATL veteran Adale O'Brien in The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's gripping tale of mother-daughter animosity and dependence. Emotionally fragile daughter Maureen, age 40, stuck in their isolated village with the demanding harridan, yearns for escape and comes close to achieving it but for Mag's spiteful scheming that brings doom crashing down on both of them.

O'Brien is at the top of her form as the venomous Mag. Anne O'Sullivan is equally electrifying as Maureen in their verbal swordplay that turns physically ugly. Joyous and hopeful that her life might change after an unexpected romantic interlude with Pato Dooley (Con Horgan, in a beautifully nuanced performance), a native son back home temporarily from his construction job in London, Maureen is alive to possibilities that Mag and fate conspire to snuff out. (It's Pato who dubs her the beauty queen, endearing himself even more.) Pato's younger brother Ray (Matthew Schneck), with his youthful self-absorption and mercurial moods, is the major instrument of that fate. Schneck's hyperactive performance enlivens this wickedly funny/sad drama; his cat-and-mouse scenes with crotchety, crafty Mag are delicious.

William McNulty's smooth direction brings out the best in the cast. But the pace slows too much at the shocking ending, and the play would benefit if a sense of gathering menace could be coaxed more often from the script. Scenic designer Brenda Ellis' cheerless living-room/kitchen set and Lorraine Venberg's costumes (O'Brien's worn shapeless cardigan, O'Sullivan's sexy black dress when she throws off her dowdy everyday clothes) serve to propel us deeper into the claustrophic lives of McDonagh's tormented characters.