Beauty Queen Drawn

Thanks @ChicaneCartoon for the great drawing below!

Inspired by The Beauty Queen of Leenane

The Beauty Queen of Leenane closes in 2 days!

Who’s your favourite mum?

#TantalisingTuesdays time! Tell us who your favourite mum is (and why) for your chance to win a pair of tickets to our 5-star show The Beauty Queen of Leenane. If you’ve already seen the show – we’ll send you a programme. If you have a programme already, we’ll send you something else really good.

Either leave a comment here, email feedback@youngvic.org or post on our Facebook wall.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane, now playing, is all about a very complicated mother-daughter relationship. Mag, who is played by Rosaleen Linehan, has been described as a ‘monster of passive-aggressive manipulation’ (The Stage), a ‘cantankerous hypochondriac’  (Independent) and a ‘house-ridden, tyrannical mother’ (New York Times) — altogether an absolutely unforgettable character. This has got us thinking about other memorable mothers, and we’ve asked some of our staffers who their favourite famous mums are! Here they are:

Chris, our Box Office & Sales Manager’s favourite mum is Norman’s mother in the movie Psycho. She’s a pretty scary figure, but Chris says, ‘It’s not like my mother is a maniac or a raving thing. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven’t you?’

Vicki, our Development Officer loves Edina from Absolutely Fabulous, whose children set a good example for her rather than the other way around. Vickie says, ‘Eddie is hilarious — she’s everything a mother shouldn’t be.’

Anca, one of our Marketing Managers, says that her favourite mums(!) are more figurative: Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, the women who developed teaching sign language to non-signing families to communicate with their hearing infants/toddlers. ‘It’s amazing being able to sign with my nephew… from about 11 months, he would sign ‘please’, pass me a book and then climb into my lap so that I would read a book to him,’ Anca says.

Liza, PA to our Artistic Director David Lan, says her favourite famous mum is Diana Rigg, the gorgeous star of The Avengers. Why? ‘My mum was the spitting image of her — she used to get stopped in the street!’

Alan, our Director of Marketing, Press & Sales says that his favourite mother is his own!

Some other mothers we talked about are Medea, Mrs. Bennet , Princess Diana, Molly Weasley, and the ‘Tiger Mother’ — who’s your favourite unforgettable mum?

The last of the Leenane-ers

The final member of the cast from The Beauty Queen of Leenane that we spoke to is Johnny Ward, playing Ray Dooley – the hilariously frustrated and impatient youngster.

Johnny Ward in The Beauty Queen of Leenane

Johnny’s work on stage includes Richard III (Samuel Beckett Theatre), Les Miserables (Point Depot), The Buddhist of Castleknock (Draiocht Arts Centre) and has appeared on TV and film in The Best of Times, Fear, Man of Few Words, Custer’s Last Stand (BBC / RTE), Doll’s House and This Must be the Place.

Tell us about your character
He is a very impatient 20 yr olds who hates living in Leenane. He loves watching trashy 80s Australian soaps and going to the local discos. He is extremely bored the majority of the time and dreams one day of following in his brothers’ footsteps and move to England

Favourite word
Absolutely! But Cathal Cleary, the assistant director, has to say it

Proudest moment
When I got the part of Stephen in the film This Must be the Place knowing that I would be in a one on one scene with Sean Penn

If you could have a room full of one thing what would it be?
Chocolate Chip ice cream

If 28 hour days existed what would you do with the extra four hours?
Play the playstation for an extra 4 hours

Favourite holiday
Tunisia 2002

Weirdest quirk
I always do things in 3s. Don’t ask!

Favourite play
Richard III

If you had one superpower what would it be?
To have a remote that could make you go forward or back in time like Adam Sandler in the film Click

Do you have any regrets?
I used to be an all Ireland Judo champion and I wish I had kept doing it. But I gave it up

Favourite midnight snack
Fruit pastille ice pop

Do you like Kimberleys?
I did. But after eating 2 and sometimes 4 a day you kinda get sick of them and they give me heart burn

Do you like porridge?
Yeah, kinda

The world’s worst mum is back!

Bang the drum! Sound the trumpets! Raise the roof! The Beauty Queen of Leenane is back on the Young Vic stage!  You might be able to tell that we’re pretty darn chuffed to see it back and to share the joy with you we spoke to Roseleen Linehan, who reprises her highly acclaimed role as Mag, the devilishly manipulative mother in this darkest of black comedies!

Rosaleen’s stage credits include Edgame, Long Day’s Journey into Night (Gate Theatre, Dublin), The New Electric Ballroom (Druid Theatre), Blood Wedding (Almeida), Happy Days (Gate / Almeida / Babrican / Lincoln Centre) and Dancing at Lughnasa (Abbey / National Theatre)  and has appeared on TV and film in Happy Days, The Butcher Boy, About Adam and The Matchmaker.

Rosaleen Linehan

Tell us about your character
An Irish Dearest Mommy

Favourite word
I am afraid to tell you but in Irish it’s “Cac”

Proudest moment
Birth of any of my four children

If you could have a room full of one thing what would it be?
Money

If 28 hour days existed what would you do with the extra four hours?
Follow love every day for a short time

Favourite holiday
Swimming in the sea in Donegal or Clare

Weirdest quirk
Giving unwanted advice

Favourite play
‘The plough and the stars’ by Sean O’Casey

If you had one superpower what would it be?
Change my feet

Do you have any regrets?
Shouldn’t have listened to the priest about ‘that department’

Favourite midnight snack
Sleep

Do you like Kimberleys?
No, but if I was starving…. No, maybe not!

Do you like porridge?
Not any more

The lady behind the Beauty Queen

With just a few days to go before The Beauty Queen of Leenane returns to the Young Vic stage, we spoke to the woman playing the beauty queen herself, Derbhle Crotty.

Derbhle, playing the d0wn-trodden Maureen, has appeared on stage in The Field (Olympia Theatre, Dublin), The Silver Tassie, The Gigli Concert, Gaslight (Druid Theatre Company) The Playboy of the Western World and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (tour). Her TV and film credits include The Clinic, Any Time Now, Poorhouse, Golden Streets, Sella Days, Notes on a Scandal and Inside I’m Dancing.

Tell us about your character
Maureen is a good person that bad things have happened to – we meet her just as she gets a bunk

Favourite word
Metamorphosis. Other favourites: clot, pigment, tantalise

Proudest moment
At my brother’s graduation – it is true the phrase ‘swollen with pride’

If you could have a room full of one thing what would it be?
High denomination sterling notes (do you have £500 notes?). I would also stipulate an outward opening door

If 28 hour days existed what would you do with the extra four hours?
Hand wash my woollens

Favourite holiday
When I went to Thailand for 3 weeks between shows at the National

Weirdest quirk
I love the rain

Favourite play
King Lear

If you had one superpower what would it be?
To be able to grow trees and plants at a fantastic rate with just a touch

Do you have any regrets?
Yes, hindsight is a great thing

Favourite midnight snack
Cheese on toast

Do you like Kimberleys?
Yes – I also like other patriotic biscuits such as coconut cream and goldgrain

Do you like porridge?
Yes I love it. My favourite way to have it is with salt and cream

The return of the Beauty Queen

With the return of The Beauty Queen of Leenane just around the corner (20 July – 3 Sept) we caught up with the cast to find out just how much they love porridge, which one of them acted one-on-one with Sean Penn and whose favourite word is ‘Cac’!

First up is Frank Laverty, playing the Pato. His work on stage includes The Rivals (Southwark Playhouse), A Whistle in the Dark, The Colleen Bawn (Manchester Royal Exchange), Philadelphia Here I Come! A Skull in Connemara, Song of the Yellow Bittern, Silverlands (Druid Theatre Company), Iphegenia at Aulis, Sour Grapes and The Winter Thief (Abbey Theatre, Dublin) with TV and Film credits including Single-Handed, Doctors, Stardust and Michael Collins.

Tell us about your character
Pato is a very lonely man who is unhappy with his life in London. His connection with Maureen is genuine and gives him a new lease of life.

Favourite word
My favourite word in this play is ‘Smutterings’

Proudest moment
Being at the births of my 2 beautiful girls

If you could have a room full of one thing what would it be?
Oxygen

If 28 hour days existed what would you do with the extra four hours?
Play tennis and get some coaching

Favourite holiday
The August Bank Holiday as it’s always my birthday

Weirdest quirk
Needing a one hour siesta between shows. Anything less is not good for the company!

Favourite play
“A Whistle in the Dark” by Tom Murphy

If you had one superpower what would it be?
The ability to fly of course! What else?

Do you have any regrets?
Not being able to play a musical instrument

Favourite midnight snack
Cheese and biscuits

Do you like Kimberleys?
Yes, I love all biscuits

Do you like porridge?
Yes

2011-2012 Season Now on Sale to Friends!

It’s a truly unmissable year….

• The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barratt in Government Inspector
• Return of the sell-out hits The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Evening Standard Award-winning musical Street Scene
• Hamlet starring Michael Sheen
• Patrick Stewart as William Shakespeare in Bingo

Friends: now / Priority Pass: 8 Feb / All: 15 Feb

Exciting… check it out now!

… and Beauty Queen ends on a good note

Only 3 more performances of The Beauty Queen of Leenane left. It’s been a brilliant five weeks – all shows have sold out and we’re running low on playtexts! We’ve been collecting loads of great audience reviews that are all uploaded onto a new page of our website. We’re going to keep doing this for all our shows, so don’t forget to send us your thoughts whenever you come see something here. reviews@youngvic.org

On another note, we’re excited that Beauty Queen’s director (also our Associate Director) Joe Hill-Gibbins will be directing our Christmas production – The Glass Menagerie. Who’s in it, you ask? Watch this space!

Happy Friday!