Curtains Up On McDonagh's Lonesome West

At the Baron's Court Theatre between January 9 and February 4, APR Theatre Company will present "The Lonesome West", the final instalment in Martin McDonagh's acclaimed Leenane trilogy, originally staged in 2001. A black comedy set in the "murder capital of Ireland", Leenane, a small town in Connemara, the play about two brothers who have recently buried their father is almost the Hibernian reflection of "True West" by Sam Shephard, the influence of whom often resonates in McDonagh's work. The sub-text parodies the Hollywood vision of the American frontier, where each insult is tantamount to a challenge to a gunfight, while also symbolising the sheer desolation of an outpost far from civilization that breeds suicidal despair.

The small intimate pub theatre, housed in the cellar of the "Curtains Up" pub, will recreate the Connor household, where tensions run high between two siblings with a penchant for violence, often caused by incredibly puerile squabbles regarding packets of crisps and religious statuettes. And it is left to Father Welsh, a troubled alcoholic priest, to try to guide them towards some kind of reconciliation. A calm outcome seems improbable in a run-down house in a community with a dark and sinister history outlined in the previous works in the trilogy, "The Beauty Queen Of Leenane" and "The Skull Of Connemara".

McDonagh, one of the leading contemporary Anglo-Irish playwrights, has established himself as one of the true masters of darkly ironic comedy with an underlying core of symbolic violence. His plays have achieved critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, winning both Olivier and Tony Awards. Amongst these are the savagely violent, hilariously funny and profoundly provoking "The Lieutenant Of Inishmore" and, more recently, the psychologically harrowing "The Pillowman". In 2006 he won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for "Six Shooter", a film he both wrote and directed.

In many ways McDonagh's writing is unique but parallels are often seen between his work and those as diverse as J. M. Synge, Harold Pinter and David Mamet. And one review of the premiere production of "Lonesome West" described it as "Beavis and Butt-head meet The Playboy Of The Western World."

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