The Beauty Queen of Leenane is so suspenseful and subtly sinister that Edgar Alan Poe likely would have felt jealous. It is one of those plays that ... well, can’t be explained without giving it away. But here is just a snapshot since Olympia Little Theatre is ending its season with this Martin McDonagh award-winner.



The play is a pressure-cooker of a work that sometimes boils over as comedy and other times as evil intentions and scenes of cruelty as it centers on a mother and daughter who have largely let their lives pass by because they were too busy complaining about their regrets and burdens. They know they have wasted their lives but opt to continue wasting what life is left by blaming the other for their troubles.



Lynn Geyer is a perfect fit for Mag Foley, the mother in this dysfunctional duo. The South Sound stage veteran has the depth of skill required for the subtle signs of cruelty and hate this character requires as she takes out all of her worldly frustrations on her daughter, Maureen (played by Kim Holm).



Set in 1989, the two live in an isolated home in an isolated Irish village of Leenane, where the one bachelor of note Maureen had hopes of connecting with, Pato Dooley (Paul Gisi) has already moved away to London in search of a better life — the whole play is set in the run down kitchen turned living room of the shabby and unkempt house that only adds to the sense of claustrophobic entrapment. Maureen is left alone to care for her manipulative mother as her youth fades and resentment sets in with each barbed exchange. All of her sisters have managed to escape by marrying off and moving away. But  those times have long passed Maureen as she cares for her abusive mother. The simmering tension bubbles over into tragedy when Dooley comes back for a visit. Romance blooms quickly in Leenane, but maternal interference changes that and takes the story on a turn few in the audience likely suspect.



Cruel actions begat cruel actions to the point that there are no clean hands in the battle of wits that dives so deeply into the depths of abusive hate that one could argue there are no villains in the play, while some could argue all are guilty and yet still others would side with one party or the other.



The show is the first play of the trilogy that includes A Skull in Connemara and The Lonesome West.



Directed by Tom S. Samland, The Beauty Queen of Leenane ends its run this weekend.

Fabulous Fifties

The publishing houses that hold the rights to most of the plays worth watching must have a sick sense of humor. They hold the copyrights to the wonderful bodies of work and decide what theaters can perform them and which ones get the big thumbs down. Far too many times a yes nod becomes a no only after work on the production has begun. Such is the case with Tacoma Little Theatre’s presentation of Broadway’s Fabulous Fifties a showcase of classic musical numbers from the Golden age of theater. The theater was set to stage Pajama Game, only to learn that its rights to produce the show had been pulled because a national touring company had stepped in and bought all of the national rights to stage the work as it sets out to begin its cross country road trip.



That forced TLT to think fast since the actors had already been selected for the show. Thus began a sprint by TLT Artistic Director David Duvall and the show’s director Chris Nardine to create an original revue that included some of the songs from Pajama Game and brought in others from the era to round out the night. The show includes songs from West Side Story, Gypsy, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls and a host of other classics.



“It was important to us to create a show that was more than one of those ‘everybody-comes-out-and-sings-their-solo’ type of revues,” Nardine says. “This is a complete theatrical spectacle with over 40 fully-staged musical numbers filling a two-hour show.”



[Olympia Little Theatre, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, 7:55 p.m. Saturday, 1:55 p.m. Sunday, $10-$15, 1925 Miller Ave., Olympia, 360.786.9484]



[Tacoma Little Theatre, Broadway’s Fabulous Fifties, through June 29 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m., $18-$22, 210 N. I St., Tacoma, 253.272.2281]