The Lonesome West

The living-kitchen area in an old farmhouse in Leenane, a tiny village on the coast of County Galway in Ireland. Brothers Valene and Coleman have been sharing a house here for the longest time. They have just buried their father, who died of a shotgun wound. Now they are squabbling over potato crisps, money and religious figurines. Father Welsh, the young parish priest, comes to their home after the funeral to get drunk and to grumble about the incorrigible village, where everyone is either feuding, shooting one another or killing themselves. The fourth character in this tragicomic quartet is Girleen. She is almost 18 and sells poteen, which is high-proof, distilled spirits made from barley. When she calls on the brothers to peddle her wares and bring sad news from the village, a hopeless escalation full of confessions, inevitable violence and black humour ensues.

Mateja Koležnik has already staged several plays by Martin McDonagh in her home country of Slovenia. Screenwriter, director and producer McDonagh counts among today’s top contemporary indie filmmakers, with such award-winning films as “In Bruges” (2008), “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017) and “The Banshees of Inisherin” (2023) under his belt. “The Leenane Trilogy” (1996–1997) dates back to a time before he started making films. Written in McDonagh’s distinctive language, these three plays explore small-town people in Ireland as they reflect on such universal themes as belonging, friendship, wanderlust and loneliness. THE LONESOME WEST is the final part and the climax of this early work.