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You have to wonder if the Chamber of Commerce of Ireland’s real-life village of Leenane is considering suing playwright Martin McDonagh. In the two plays of his that Algonquin Theatre Company has produced in the valley, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and now The Lonesome West, this little burg is prone to more violence than Jessica Fletcher’s Cabot Cove, Maine.

As their current production opens, the murder rate has increased once again due to the “accidental” shotgun blast to a father’s head by an ungrateful son. Just as Beauty Queen Maureen understood that never admitting to her crime would save her on earth, if not her eternal soul, Coleman Connor (Greg Hynes) has gotten his miserly brother Valene (Ron Hunting) to agree that this was an accidental discharge that blew their father’s head off, but at a steep price. All of this murder and mayhem is driving the town’s poor priest Father Welsh (AJ Moorehead) to drink. With the enabling sprite Girleen (Stephanie Christman), local spitfire and alcohol delivery girl, the odds are against the constantly battling Coleman and Valene both living to ripe old ages.  

This production doesn’t quite hit the heights that last year’s Beauty Queen did, but it does hold its own. Part of it is the script itself. McDonagh’s Beauty Queen is a deep and intense battle between two wily and evenly matched adversaries that affects those around them negatively. His Lonesome West is another pitched battle, but the two adversaries in the middle are childish boys trapped in mid-puberty, fighting about juvenile things with men’s weapons. It’s quite funny, but it is also less insidious (and subsequently less dramatic) than the first. However, the periphery characters are much more involved in this one, and that allows Director Dan Schay to expand the cramped location, including one touching moonlit scene at the beginning of the second act that allows Moorehead and Christman to shine.

Schay’s fingerprints are all over this, with subtle pacing and interesting staging. And it’s kind of a vanity production for Hunting and Hynes. It’s almost criminal how much fun they are obviously having. Hunting’s Valene is a slow, disgusting sort, prone to slurring and crotch picking. Hynes’ Coleman is a spiteful hot head. Both work the language with love, and their connection is as brotherly as these two actors can possibly create. The joy of this show is to watch these two actors savor the bile their characters spew.

Moorehead plays the morose pastor with a heaviness that might seem too overt unless you’ve seen what he’s had to deal with in the first script. His slow descent is punctuated by that wonderful scene mentioned prior. Christman is bright, chipper, and seems all façade until that scene, when she reveals a depth of character that is as breathtaking as Stuart Bailey’s simple yet exquisite lighting for the scene.

Hunting’s set is yet another marvel of a lot in a forbidding space. Kudos especially to Paula Lippert and Gary Vos for their special effects that I still can’t figure out.