“It happened to me yesterday at Pier 21,” Dunsmore told the reporter.  “It’s like, ‘You look familiar,’ or it’s, ‘Oh my God, you’re Katherine Brooke.’”

Dunsmore is currently in Halifax, directing the award-winning Irish play, “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” by Martin McDonagh.  The play, which opens today, is described in the article as “Irish comedy meets Quentin Tarantino”. 

In summary, it depicts the volatile relationship between a rough, 71-year-old woman, Mag Folan, and her desperate 40-year-old spinster daughter, Maureen.  The play is set in Ireland in the late 1980’s, when the country’s economy was driving people elsewhere.

Dunsmore’s ties to the play go back a long way, as she played the role of the daughter 14 years ago in Winnipeg.  The play was written by McDonagh when he was only 26 and Dunsmore call it a piece of perfection.  “It’s a twisted, wickedly funny, black comedy that manages to function on a lot of different levels.

“What he’s managed to create is quite an accurate portrait of a community — not unlike communities in the Maritimes — where there’s no work and people have to leave in order to survive.”

Dunsmore is not the only Avonlea alumni to have played the role of Maureen.  Fans of Road to Avonlea will appreciate the fact that Fiona Reid – who played the mother of the King’s hired hand, Peter – also played the part at CanStage.

It’s a small world in the theater, as on the street, as Dunsmore will no doubt continue to be recognized for her portrayal of a cynical woman transformed after living at Green Gables.

To read the full article about the play, click here.