McDonagh, Martin (1970-…), is an Irish playwright and filmmaker known for his distinctive dramas that mix black humor and violence. Most of his plays are set in western Ireland, particularly in the rural area of the Connemara district and on the offshore Aran Islands. Critics have praised McDonagh for creating a gallery of quirky, unsettling characters known for telling stories and tall tales.
McDonagh gained fame with his first play, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996). The play, set in a small town in Connemara, portrays a fierce battle of wills between 40-year-old Maureen and her brutal 70-year-old mother, Mag. Characters from the play appear in McDonagh’s next two works, A Skull in Connemara and The Lonesome West (both 1997). The three dramas have been called the Leenane Trilogy.
McDonagh’s next three plays have been called the Aran Islands Trilogy because of their location. They are The Cripple of Inishmaan (1997), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2000), and The Banshees of Inisheer (written in 1994, but never produced or published). All three dramas examine the unhappiness and frustrated lives of people living on the islands.
McDonagh moved the setting of The Pillowman (2003) from western Ireland to an unnamed, possibly eastern European, country. This disturbing drama tells about a writer who composes short stories about the death or disappearance of children, leading to his interrogation by the authorities. A Behanding in Spokane (2010) is set in a hotel room in a nameless small town in the United States and centers on a one-handed man who has been searching for his severed hand for years. The Hangman (2016) is a comedy thriller set in a tavern owned by a newly retired hangman in northern England in the 1960’s.
McDonagh has also gained success as a filmmaker. He won a 2005 Academy Award for his short film Six Shooter (2004). He also wrote and directed the darkly comic suspense drama In Bruges (2008). In addition, he wrote and directed The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), which was nominated for nine Academy Awards.
McDonagh was born on March 26, 1970, in London to immigrant Irish parents.
