The Beauty Queen of Leenane: Chichester Festival Theatre and the Lyric Hammersmith

Martin McDonagh's name became much more widely known outside of theatre circles after the great success of his film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, but many theatregoers were already devotees: The Lieutenant of Inishmore in 2001, The Pillowman in 2003 and Hangmen in 2015 were all extremely memorable nights in the theatre for me – and In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes and Brendan Gleeson, is an excellent film very much in McDonagh's distinctive style.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane was McDonagh's first produced play, in 1996, and has all the trademark features of his work. Set in the village of Leenane on the west coast of Ireland, it pits Maureen – the only one unmarried of three sisters – against her wily, demanding and seemingly selfish mother Meg. Trapped together in a run-down house, isolated from a nosey but largely detached community, the play raises questions about sanity and responsibility in such a way that tantalisingly never quite resolves. It's the theatrical equivalent of the novelistic trope of the unreliable narrator. Chilling, tragic, but darkly funny too.