Orange Is the New Black's Yael Stone is joining the cast of Martin McDonagh's groundbreaking play The Beauty Queen of Leenane.
Yael Stone, best known for playing Lorna on the Emmy-award-winning OINTB for seven seasons, is returning to the Australian stage in Sydney Theatre Company's production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane.
She has stepped in to replace Rebel Wilson, who was initially cast as Maureen Folan but had to leave the production due to a conflict in scheduling. Fellow Australian actress Noni Hazlehurst is taking on the role of Folan's mother Mag.
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Set in the early 1990s in the town of Leenane, Connemara, the play was groundbreaking for its dark (and darkly humorous) portrayal of life and intergenerational cruelty in rural Ireland, without an ounce of twee or nostalgia.
Beauty Queen was Martin McDonagh's first play, which shot him to fame. Born in London to Irish parents, McDonagh spent much of his time growing up in Ireland and set his first two trilogies of plays there. Beauty Queen debuted with Galway's Druid Theatre Company in 1996 before transferring to London's West End.
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After an international tour and an off-Broadway run, Beauty Queen opened on Broadway in April 1998 and was nominated for six Tony Awards. It won four, including Best Director, making the Druid's Garry Hynes the first woman to win the Tony for Best Direction of a Play.
McDonagh has since branched out into film, with In Bruges and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri to his name.
While we have not heard Stone attempt a Connemara accent before, her stellar turn as OINTB's Italian-American Lorna is promising! She has also worked extensively in Australian TV, film, and theatre and won two Sydney Theatre Awards.
Sydney Theatre Company's production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane runs November 18 to December 21 at the Roslyn Packer Theatre.
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