HAYMARKET audiences are in for a shocking, tragic and rather moving show this month.

The Basingstoke theatre carries on with its Irish season with Martin McDonagh's award-winning The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

Set in a small town in County Galway in the west of Ireland, the dark comic tale is about Maureen Folan - a plain and lonely woman in her early 40s who is manipulated by her ageing mother Mags.

Her interference in Maureen's first - and, who knows, possibly last - chance of a loving relationship starts off a train of events.

In the lead role is Irish actress Pauline O'Driscoll, who, incidentally, has trod the boards of New York's Broadway. She describes the play as being about "lost love - a kind of west coast of Ireland Romeo and Juliet".

It's not the first time Pauline (pictured) has played Maureen, having also appeared at the New Vic, in Stoke-on-Trent.

But with different cast members and a minimalist set at the Haymarket, the show here will be a fresh experience for Pauline, who no doubt knows the play inside out.

"It's a play about mothers, daughters and relationships," said Pauline.

"It's very funny. There's a lot of laughs in it, but it's also quite sad, when you see these two women - mother and daughter - who are in a constant cycle with each other and the two men, one of whom is my potential boyfriend and the other his younger brother.

"Maureen's very inexperienced when it comes to men. She's very nave in that she hasn't had any dates because she's been looking after her mother for the last 20 years.

"I think she's a bit of a martyr as she does all the work in the house and then wants to moan about it as well.

"But I think she's a great character - she's quite violent at times because she has a fiery temper and, of course, mother knows exactly how to press the buttons to make Maureen lose her temper."

Pauline certainly admires how Martin McDonagh has written the play.

"I love the way it has been written - it's just genius. The writing is really clever and observant and there's not a single word in the play that shouldn't be there.

"It's also about material that anybody can understand and appreciate. Yes, they're stuck in the west of Ireland, but that's not really that important, because most women have mother-daughter relationships and we have things we wished we had done differently, or opportunities that we missed or didn't take.

"So here you have love, death, passion, a bit of raunchiness, violence, tears - everything really.

"It's one of the best plays I have ever read and certainly ever worked on, and I would be happy to play this role for a year.

"It's the kind of role you dream of playing."

She might be happy to play the role for a year, but Pauline will only be playing Maureen in Basingstoke for two weeks - from Thursday, January 27, until Saturday, February 12.

Tickets are priced from £10 to £18, with concessions available.

To book, call the box office on 0870 7701088.