The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a 1996 dramatic play by Martin McDonagh which was premiered by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland.

[3] The play received its American premiere opening Off-Broadway on 11 February 1998, presented by the Atlantic Theatre Company at the Linda Gross Theater.

The 1999 production was a tour by the Royal Court Theatre Company, appearing at the Adelaide Festival Centre (May – June 1999) and Wharf 1 (July 1999) and directed by Garry Hynes.

A 2001 adaptation was undertaken by The Tron Theatre in Glasgow, starring Anne Marie Timoney as Maureen and directed by Iain Heggie.

The play was revived in July 2010 at the Young Vic Theatre in the West End, starring Irish actress Rosaleen Linehan.

[8] The production transferred to Dublin's Gaiety Theatre where Linehan reprised her role opposite Derbhle Crotty.

Directed by Garry Hynes, the cast stars Marie Mullen as Mag, Aisling O'Sullivan as Maureen, Aaron Monaghan as Ray and Marty Rea as Pato.

[13] Maureen Folan, a 40-year-old spinster, lives in the Irish village of Leenane, Connemara, in the early 1990s with her 70-year-old mother Mag, for whom she acts as caretaker.

Maureen has already learnt of the party from Ray, whom she passed on her way in, so she punishes Mag for her dishonesty by forcing her to drink lumpy Complan.

He reveals that, although he has barely spoken to Maureen in 20 years of acquaintance, he has secretly thought of her as "the beauty queen of Leenane" for a long time.

Pato emerges from the bedroom and prepares breakfast for a shocked Mag, revealing that Maureen insisted he not sneak out.

When she continues to talk about the sexual encounter, Mag teases her and accidentally lets slip that she is aware of Pato's impotence.

She returns home after midnight, telling an unmoving Mag that she caught Pato at the train station before he left, and they recommitted themselves to one another.