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‘Beauty Queen’ opens at Kenworthy

Written by By Hillary Flowers -Argonaut

Wednesday, 07 September 2005

Sirius Idaho Theatre will present “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” this month, a Tony Award-winning play that revolves around lives of sex, violence and deception. The play was written by Martin McDonagh, and Forrest Sears is directing the Sirius production. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and Sept. 15-17 at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre. Matinees will be 2 p.m. Saturday and Sept. 17. It is set in the mountains of Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, in 1989. Maureen Folan (played by Pam Palmer) is a plain, virgin woman in her early 40s who has the burden of taking care of her manipulative, useless mother, Mag, played by Valerie McIlroy. Maureen has only kissed two men in her whole life and has reached the point where she wants to be in love and make love to somebody who loves her. Her love interest is Pato Dooley, (Peter Aylward), with whom she grew up. Pato is a man who has had many women in his life, but he is smitten with Maureen. He hasn’t spoken to Maureen in about 20 years. Then he comes back from England for his uncle’s going away party. Pato has his 20-year-old brother Ray Dooley (Michael Carpenter) deliver a message to Maureen inviting her to the party. The only thing stopping Ray from delivering the message is Maureen’s mother, who denies ever seeing Ray. The story then revolves around the two people falling in love with the interference of the mother from hell. “In a relationship, how much can we demand of somebody else before the demand is too big?” said John Dickinson, chair of the board of directors of Sirius Idaho Theatre. “What happens when the pressure comes to some boiling point?” Palmer’s character Maureen is naive when it comes to love and relationships. Palmer, who is also the artistic director of the play, said some scenes include sex and violence. One such scene takes place after the party, when Maureen and Pato go back to her house to talk and flirt and end up making love. Dickinson said the actors did an impromptu scene to see what happened at the party, which isn’t shown in the play. They wanted to find out why Pato would go home with this older woman who has only kissed two men in her life and is still a virgin. “If she’s sexual at all, it’s because she saw it in the movies,” Dickinson said. “If someone’s only kissed two men and they’re 40 years old, they’re not going to have very many moves.” Carpenter said his character, on the other hand, is sort of an A.D.D.-type of person whose mind shoots off in different directions every minute. He said Ray is a deep character with many things going on in his head at the same time. “You really get to be somebody completely different,” Carpenter said. “What actor doesn’t want to play a crazy young guy who lives in his own little world?” “Ray is interesting because he’s Pato’s brother, but they’re 20 years apart,” he said. “Pato is more of a father figure to him.” Carpenter had done a play called “Proof” with Palmer in 2004 and decided to come back for this one when he got the call that the person who was supposed to play Ray hurt his knee. Carpenter was in Seattle working after he graduated from Washington State University in May. He majored in English, but minored in theater. He said he has only been doing theater for three years and realized it’s his calling. “English training helps you get in the mind of the author,” Carpenter said. He said an English degree helps an actor see the bigger picture of the show. Carpenter plans to go back to Seattle after the play ends. In October, he will move to Los Angeles to audition. He said Sirius Idaho Theatre has been very accommodating since he’s been back in Moscow and has a family feel to its company. Ticket prices for “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for students. Tickets can be purchased at the Kenworthy ticket office one hour before showtime, BookPeople of Moscow and Moscow Farmers’ Market.  Add as favorites (21) | Views: 764 Be first to comment this article Write Comment Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code. Name: Title: Comment: