THE BOSTON GLOBE

“Excellent”

“Director, Garry Hynes, who demonstrates a knack for artfully keeping the audience off-balance and on edge.”

“Mullen and O’Sullivan make a superb team.”

WGBH

“Brilliant and absorbing and it will unnerve you.”

THE METRO WEST DAILY NEWS

“'Beauty Queen' revival is one mother of a show”

“Superb”

“Under Hynes's expert direction, Mullen's Mag is more mobile, spilling her persistent menace on everyone and everything in her path."

ON BOSTON STAGES

“brilliant production”

“the direction by Tony winner Garry Hynes is just as brilliant as the acting.”

ARTS FUSE

“Hilarious and heartbreaking”

“The Druid Theatre Company staging shows what amazing things happens when a group of artists work together fully and completely in the service of telling a powerful story”

THEATER MIRROR

"A Tragicomic Masterpiece"

“Playwright Martin McDonagh is a master storyteller, and not a single line of dialogue is wasted, no matter how seemingly trivial.”

“The cast is extraordinary”

BOSTON EDGE MEDIA NETWORK

"This type of high wire act can only be accomplished with top notch acting and Druid gives it to us in spades."

An “all-out battle of wits”

THE NEW YORK TIMES

"A must-see for theater geeks"

Vogue Magazine

“The acting is so elegant...[but] we are hit hardest by moments of hope, longing, dreaminess, and beauty.”

WBUR: THE ARTERY

"Boston should welcome McDonagh and this production of his dark comedy with open arms."

“The existential stakes are high for everyone, characters and audiences alike.”

“It's A 'Beauty' — Martin McDonagh Takes Ireland To Task With A Scabrous Sense Of Humor”

Broadway World

"It is difficult to separately describe the performances of Mullen and O'Sullivan because they are so totally connected to their roles and to each other. Their capacity to convey the comedy within the tragedy is masterful, and Hynes' direction allows the audience to catch a breath and relax with the laughs before the action slams them again."

"The Beauty Queen of Leenane is the theatrical equivalent of eating a steaming, hearty bowl of beef stew on a winter's night. You can sink your teeth into it, chew on its dramatic morsels, and walk away feeling sated."

The White Rhino Report

"The leadership team at ArtsEmerson is unparalleled in their genius for finding far-flung world class story tellers and bringing them to Boston for local audiences to enjoy."

"An audience member who sits through this play without bursting into laughter, erupting with a gasp or two, and being moved to tears is simply not paying attention - to the script and to their heart."

Joyce's Choices

"Get ready for an emotional and psychological wallop."

THE IMPROPER BOSTONIAN

“Contrary to what Gilmore Girls would have you believe, mother-daughter relationships aren’t all brainy banter and mixups that can be resolved with quick-fire quips over coffee. Consider Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane, a drama that centers on a twisted mother-daughter duo, whose dysfunctional relationship is heightened by their isolation in a small Irish village.”

★★★★ – Time Out New York

“Garry Hynes, the first woman to win a directing Tony (for her Beauty Queen staging in 1998), returns with her fearless Druid troupers for a solidly entertaining revival.”

“With these vibrant, lusty performers at the controls, the grim machinery of McDonagh’s amoral morality tale clicks into place: so ugly you can’t take your eyes off it.”

The Huffington Post

“Laceratingly funny and boisterously vicious”

Vulture

“Hilariously grim”

New York Daily News

“Richly theatrical and satisfying. Every beauty queen should age so well.”

Boston Globe Preview

Exeunt Magazine

“A production that manages to be at once haunting and a whole lot of fun.”

Flavorwire Staff Pick

“The production nails the strange simultaneity of hilarity, depression, and dread that distinguishes McDonagh’s writing”

LA Weekly

“It's artistic proof not only that the work has transcended the historical moment of its birth but that it packs the kind of universal staying power that can speak across generations.”

“Exquisite”

“This searing reimagining of that debut…makes it abundantly clear what all the fuss was about.”

Broadway World

“Under Garry Hynes splendid direction, the actors give sparkling performances, feasting on every word and action.”

The Hollywood Reporter

“A tragedy that will make you roar with laughter.”

“An outstanding production that’s as witty as it is shocking.”

“McDonagh rides an improbable line between sophistication and folksiness, delivering a rare tragedy that contains more laughs than sobs”

The Stage Review

“It’s quite a story directed and acted brilliantly by each cast member, that leaves audience members walking out of the theatre expressing out loud, ‘Wow, that was intense.’”

BEN BRANTLEY, THE NEW YORK TIMES

“STUNNING. You begin to feel nourished in ways you had forgotten were possible.”

“MCDONAGH HAS A MASTER'S HAND at building up and subverting expectations in a cat-and-mouse game with the audience.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

"Garry Hynes’ direction – tense, taut, toying with the melodrama until almost the end – is just right"

THE IRISH TIMES

“A world-class company rooted in the cultural fabric of Galway”

THE IRISH INDEPENDENT

“Ireland’s most prestigious theatre company.”

THE GUARDIAN (MICHAEL BILLINGTON) ON GARRY HYNES

“Hynes is not only a first-rate director. She has that mixture of the visionary and the pragmatic you find in all great theatrical pioneers.”