WHAT will it take to make you wake up to the presence of a remarkable play at York Theatre Royal? Not the West End and Tony Awards, not the reviews in the Evening Press and beyond, so here is the last throw of the dice, dear reader, for The Beauty Queen Of Leenane.

Jamie Beamish is playing Ray.

"Jamie who?", you may say, but not for long. The Waterford actor, classical bass-baritone and composer was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award 2003 for his performances in Shakespeare's Two Gentleman Of Verona and A Midsummer Night's Dream in the open-air season at Regent's Park.

His stock continues to rise.

"It's funny. You're the same actor you were 12 months ago; you're not drastically better, but producers and casting directors suddenly look at you in a new light and you get on to a completely different level of auditions. I don't think I would have had much chance of getting into this production without my CV being as it is now," Jamie says.

Jamie is from Waterford on the south coast of Ireland, and he had grown aware of the Irish plays of Martin McDonagh, not least his debut work, The Beauty Queen Of Leenane.

"I knew Anna Manahan, a well-known Irish actress from Waterford, who played Old Mag in the original West End and Broadway productions of Beauty Queen (and it was such a big deal when she won the Tony for Best Actress on Broadway that Waterford gave her the freedom of the city).

"Anyway, I knew her and I'd seen Martin's play, The Lieutenant Of Inishmore, when I came over to England to drama school at Guildford," he recalls.

"Then when I was in the Royal Court earlier this year watching Connor McPherson's Shining City, I saw they were selling back copies of scripts at £2, and there was The Beauty Queen Of Leenane. £2! A bargain!

"I'd never seen it, never read it, but people had kept saying there was a role in it for me, and the funny thing was, the next day I was having a drink with a friend and he'd just heard that York was going to do the play, and I thought, 'God, this is such a coincidence, I've just bought the script, I've got to apply."

Apply he did, and now he is attracting plaudits for his performance as Ray, a village boy in a hurry but with nowhere to go. Jamie's Ray will be waiting for you at the Theatre Royal, time on his hands, chewing on a disgusting Kimberley biscuit.

The Beauty Queen Of Leenane, York Theatre Royal, until November 27. Box office: 01904 623568.

Updated: 09:36 Friday, November 19, 2004