The Lonesome West

June 8-17, 2023. Tickets $25 / $27.

Glen Barton                         Director, Photography

CAST

Jules Hart                             Valene

Matthew Bradford            Coleman

Tess Parker                          Girleen

Lachie Errey                        Father Welsh

 

CREW

Terry Roseburgh                 Producer

Shani Clarke                        Associate Director / Fight Coord

Tracey McKeague               Associate Director Dialect Coach, Publicity

Derek Ingles                        Stage Manager

Rosey Carollo                      Asst Stage Manager

Iain Lambert                       Set Design & Construction

Michael Baker                     Set Design & Construction

Douglas Montgomery        Lighting Design

Donald Bennett                  Sound Design & Operation

Kristel Rae                           Original Music

Teresa Stipcevich               Properties

Monica Spencer                 Costume Design

Amanda Glasson                Assistant Costumes

Catherine Whitehead         Set & Foyer

Lisa Berry                             Program

Fred Preston                        Photography

 

Synopsis

Brothers Coleman and Valene Connor find themselves at lifelong loggerheads. Stuck in the same house together now that their father has died, old antagonisms, Tayto crisps and religious figurines fan their poteen fuelled hatred to flaring point. Instead of putting the past behind them, they use their apologies as new weapons to open old wounds.

Arguably the darkest and most comedic of McDonagh’s Leenane Trilogy, The Lonesome West, set in the western Irish village of Leenane, tells a simple story and tells it majestically well. With dialogue that can be simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, characters are nuanced and complex, yet very recognisable and relatable.

REVIEW – Colin Mockett

Stark and Darkly Intense Comedy

The Lonesome West directed by Glen Barton for Torquay Theatre Troupe, Torquay’s Shoestring Theatre, June 8, 2023.
First impressions from the set for The Lonesome West would imply that Martin McDonagh’s play was set in 19th Century Ireland. But as soon as the characters arrived, their clothes, dialogue and props showed the play to be set in the last quarter of the 20th Century. That was when religion was losing its grip on the nation, but before the EU and tech revolutions.
As such its fits neatly into McDonagh’s awarded Connemara Trilogy, which includes The Beauty Queen Of Leenane and A Skull In Connemara.
All are set in Ireland and are stark studies of human nature, its influences, pressures and outcomes. They’re also intense black comedies containing murder and nefarious deeds.
The Lonesome West included several passing references to the other two plays plus it revealed murders and misdeeds of its own.
On the surface, The Lonesome West is the story of two middle-aged brothers living in their Leenane family cottage together after their father had died. Leenane is a tiny village in County Galway on the west coast of Ireland.
The brothers first appeared as Irish stereotypes obsessed with religion, drink and fighting. The bigger, and presumed older brother, Coleman, was played by Matthew Bradford as a belligerent, manipulating aggressor while in the hands of Jules Hart, his slighter sibling, Valene, was a happy alcoholic, quietly absorbed in his collections of religious statuettes and women’s magazines.
In McDonagh’s now recognisable style, the play’s plot lines were revealed slowly, through secrets revealed during the brother’s bickerings and fights, some of which were highly realistic.
It was clear that director Glen Barton had selected and rehearsed his cast with the utmost care, for each player was precise and accurate in word and action, even down to their choreographed fights.
But although the sibling’s rivalry was central to The Lonesome West’s complexities, it certainly wasn’t the only one. Several concerned the other two characters who appeared at the cottage as the brother’s peacemakers. The district’s young, insecure and ultimately tragic alcoholic parish priest, Father Welsh, played with melancholy by Lachie Errey, saw the brother’s dysfunctions as his own failure.
He delivered what was probably the play’s most revealing truths in a moving soliloquy, while Tess Parker played the other visitor, young Girleen with sassy, bright confidence.
The provider of sex appeal alongside cheap Poteen, Girleen, of course had hidden depths and secrets, not the least of which was a passion for the priest.
As a piece of theatre, The Lonesome West provided a showcase for four different and distinctive acting performances in a rare dense-black comedy. It highlighted Glen Barton’s directing skills as well as the excellent set-building and tech lighting abilities that the Torquay Theatre Troupe now commands.
But on an entirely different, cerebral, level, it showed the mastery that Martin McDonagh has over his words.
For he left an audience a world away from his remote Irish village with plenty to ponder about their own human relationships, the effects of these and their ultimate legacies.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is theatre as it’s meant to be.
– Colin Mockett