The Beauty Queen of Leenane: theatre at its best

Martin McDonagh’s dark, comic thriller set in 1990 Galway, Ireland, follows great success in the West End and Off-Broadway to appear in a new guise at Hull Truck Theatre, directed by Mark Babych. Tony Award-winning The Beauty Queen of Leenane is an exhilarating character study of 40-year-old Maureen Folan (Siobhan O’Kelly) and her 70-year-old mother Mag (Maggie McCarthy). Continue reading

THE SACRED KING: short film review

Richard II and the city of York have a tumultuous history. The transient king gave the city its most significant royal charter, promoting it to the status of a county in its own right: ‘the county of the city of York’, among other fresh freedoms and privileges he bestowed upon the city. He created the title of Duke of York, first given to his uncle. How much the more tragic, then, that Richard should meet his end confined in a cell at Pontefract Castle, his death shrouded in mystery and dishonour by the neglect of the centuries since. Continue reading

Teechers: Northern disillusionment

John Godber’s 1984 play Teechers may be old enough now to work as a teacher at Whitewall high school, but that doesn’t mean the themes of disenfranchisement and dossing about within an inner city, ‘rough’ school no longer ring true in 2019. Durham Gala Theatre (in co-production with York Theatre Royal) breathe life into the play with plenty of Northern charm and enthusiasm. Continue reading