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The action takes place in the shabby, dim kitchen of a house in the Irish village of Leenane. Maureen, at forty, is trapped by her life. Unmarried and unhappy, she takes care of her demanding, manipulative, unwell mother Mag. Over the course of the play, Maureen sees the possibility of escape with Pato, an Irish construction worker currently working in England. Mag, terrified of losing her caregiver, intercepts and destroys a vital letter from Pato to Maureen inviting her to leave Leenane and start over with him. When Maureen realizes that Mag has betrayed her, she brutally punishes Mag by holding her mother’s hand on the top of the old turf-burning stove and pours over it oil that she has boiled on the gas range. She also throws boiling oil on her mother’s body and leaves her alone and in pain. There is screaming and moaning in this scene.
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