The Beauty Queen of Leenane Maureen (Jaimelyn Gray) is a middle-aged woman who lives with her senile elderly mother, Mag (Kate Harris), in a small Irish village. At her breaking point, Maureen has one last chance to be happy, but Mag is determined to stop it. The amazing thing about Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s 1996 black comedy, here directed by Luda Lopatina Solomon for Bluebird Arts, is how it lulls you into a false sense of security—one minute you’re laughing, the next you’re cringing, as moments of tenderness are quickly outdone by grisly betrayals. The script is a wonderful balance of contrasts, and this cast knows how to interpret them, particularly Gray and Harris, who bring out McDonagh’s hardened themes, the most poignant of which is captivity. —Matt de la Peña
Eleemosynary Lee Blessing balances heart and mind in his 1985 one-act character study of three talented but eccentric women: a visionary grandmother, her distant workaholic daughter, and her high-achieving but emotionally wounded granddaughter. In less than 90 minutes, we get to know and care about these three, their strengths and foibles, their mutual influences on one another, their stories and why they matter. Blessing’s words are brought to life in AstonRep Theatre Company’s remarkable production, codirected by Jeremiah Barr and Derek Bertelsen and performed by strong actors Debra Rodkin, Alexandra Bennett, and Sarah C. Lo, each of whom infuses her work with lots of warmth and wit, moving us while reminding us constantly of life’s many slings and arrows. —Jack Helbig
Private Eyes Steven Dietz’s self-consciously postmodern 1996 comedy, here revived by Piccolo Theatre under the direction of Michael D. Graham, never reaches the levels of madness to which it aspires. The premise—a play about an illicit love affair that flowers during rehearsals for a play about an illicit love affair that flowers during rehearsals—is fun, but the resulting work is belabored and leaden. One problem is that Dietz tells his tale too slowly; another is that most of the plot twists are predictable. But a bigger problem still is simply that his writing lacks heart: Dietz treats his characters as mere pawns in a theatrical game, leaving his actors little to do except speak their lines and avoid stumbling over the furniture. As the three points of the love triangle, Megan DeLay, Kurt Preopper, and Edward Fraim strive mightily to add warmth to this cold work, but the results are lukewarm at best. —Jack Helbig
