The Lonesome West rounds out Martin McDonagh’s wonderfully dark and hilarious trilogy staged by the KIN Collective. If you haven’t seen one or all of the instalments by now, then I’m sorry that this review is essentially just rubbing your nose in the amazing theatre that you can no longer see.
The play centres around Valene (Mark Diaco) and Coleman (James O’Connell), two brothers locked in their hateful co-dependence on each other, which is made all the more turgid by their father’s death. The suffocating power of this relationship beautifully drove this play through its hilarious and tragic paces.
Girleen (Laura Maitland) and Father Welsh (Dean Cartmel) round out this truly exceptional cast. The vulnerability Maitland was able to portray in her last scene was stunning, and was one of the few times I have shed a tear in the recent past without a stubbed toe or chopped onion nearby to blame it on.
Given the run has ended for these three stunning plays, there’s pretty much nothing you can do from here except write some strongly worded letters begging for encore performances. Or just bide your time, and wait to see what the KIN Collective puts on next. I will be waiting with baited breath.
