The Lonesome West is the third play in Martin McDonagh's Leenane trilogy. The three set in the windy west of Ireland are all dramatically rough. In the first, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, a young woman hangs onto a bloodstained poker as a keepsake. In the second, A Skull in Connemara the central figure is a grave digger-or more like a grave digger-upper-and the skull may be that of his wife.
For Mature Audiences Only
The Cardinal Stage Company's artistic director Randy White agrees about the raw quality of McDonagh's works. "We've suggested that this show is for mature audiences, say seventeen and up. The Lonesome West is just as energetically crude as the first two plays, but much funnier. In fact, I'd actually categorize it as a farce."
The focus of the drama is a couple of battling brothers. "Some of their fight is about the inheritance from their father-money-but it goes deeper than that. In a very traditional Irish way the two battle it out over every slight and difficulty that they've had during their entire lives. And for good measure, there's a bit of a caricature of the old Irish priest and even a charming Colleen."
A Shot Of Estrogen
IU Theatre and Drama Department senior Alana Chesire is the ‘charming Colleen.' "I'm kind of a shot of estrogen in the play. I think that the playwright just figured that he had to have a bit of a woman's perspective with all the testosterone being flouted about. It's fun to play a feisty woman who's set against the backdrop of the men."