Martin McDonagh

Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Martin Faranan McDonagh (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; born 26 March 1970)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is a British-Irish playwright and filmmaker. He is known for his absurdist dark humour which often challenges the modern theatre aesthetic. He has won numerous accolades including an Academy Award, six BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and three Olivier Awards in addition to nominations for five Tony Awards.

His plays, many of which have been produced in the West End and on Broadway, include The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Cripple of Inishmaan (both 1996), The Lonesome West (1997), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001), The Pillowman (2003), A Behanding in Spokane (2010), and Hangmen (2015).

McDonagh won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Six Shooter and has received nominations for six other Academy Awards for his work on In Bruges (2007), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022). He directed the black comedy film Seven Psychopaths (2012) and was executive producer on The Second Death (2000) and The Guard (2011). Template:TOC limit

Early life

McDonagh was born on 26 March 1970 in Camberwell, London, to Irish parents.<ref name="Mcd">Template:Cite news</ref> His mother (originally from Killeenduff, Easky, County Sligo) and his father (originally from Leitir Mealláin, Connemara, County Galway) moved back to Galway in 1992, but McDonagh and his brother (writer-director John Michael McDonagh) stayed in London.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="interview">Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Theatre

Separated into two trilogies, McDonagh's first six plays are located in and around County Galway, where he spent his holidays as a child. The first is set in Leenane, a small village on the west coast of Ireland, and consists of The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996), A Skull in Connemara (1997) and The Lonesome West (1997).<ref name=hick/> His second trilogy is set across the Aran Islands, off the coast of County Galway, and consists of The Cripple of Inishmaan (1996), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001), and The Banshees of Inisheer. The third play was never published, as McDonagh insisted it "isn't any good", though he expressed a desire to return to it when he is older.<ref name="missinghand">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2022, McDonagh directed a film titled The Banshees of Inisherin. The screenplay's resemblance to the play is unclear.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1999 he was one of the recipients of the V Europe Prize Theatrical Realities<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> awarded to the Royal Court Theatre (with Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Jez Butterworth, Conor McPherson).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

McDonagh's first non-Irish play, The Pillowman, is set in a fictitious totalitarian state and premiered at the Royal National Theatre in 2003, after a reading at the Finborough Theatre in 1995.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A Behanding in Spokane is McDonagh's first play that is set in the United States and it premiered on Broadway in March 2010.<ref name="vault">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lead actor Christopher Walken was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play<ref name=vault/> for his performance as a killer looking for the hand he lost in his youth.<ref name="finkle">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

McDonagh also penned two prize-winning radio plays, one of which is The Tale of the Wolf and the Woodcutter.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In February 2010, an announcement revealed that McDonagh was working on a new stage musical with composer Tom Waits and director Robert Wilson.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Leenane Trilogy

The trilogy starts off with The Beauty Queen of Leenane, which is the story of the dysfunctional relationship between a spinster and her domineering mother, during the course of which the former faces her last chance at love, and the latter faces a rather grim end.<ref name="chrono">Template:Cite book</ref> The play was well received on its opening night in Galway in 1996 and was next produced off-Broadway by the Atlantic Theater Company in 1998.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The play transferred to Broadway in April 1998 and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play.<ref>"'The Beauty Queen of Leenane' Broadway" Playbill (vault). Retrieved 4 April 2016</ref>

The second part of the trilogy, A Skull in Connemara, involves a Connemara man who is employed to exhume skeletons in an overcrowded graveyard and he encounters the wife whom he was once accused of killing. The play premiered in 1997 at Town Hall Theatre, Galway.<ref name="hick">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=chrono/> The play was presented at the Royal Court Theatre (London), and made its US premiere at the A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) in Seattle, Washington in July to August 2000. The play ran off-Broadway from January to May 2001 at the Gramercy Theatre, produced by the Roundabout Theatre.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Ehren, Christine. "McDonagh's Skull Rises Out of Seattle's ACT July 27-Aug. 20" Playbill, 27 July 2000</ref>

The final part is titled The Lonesome West, a play involving two brothers bickering in the aftermath of the supposedly accidental fatal shooting of their father. The play ran on Broadway in 1999 and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play in 1999.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>"'The Lonesome West' Broadway" Playbill (vault). Retrieved 4 April 2016</ref>

The Aran Islands Trilogy

The Cripple of Inishmaan is a dark comedy in which a crippled teenager schemes to attain a role in Man of Aran. The play opened in 1997 at the Royal National Theatre (Cottesloe) in London. It opened in April 1998 Off-Broadway at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, with Ruaidhri Conroy in the title role on both occasions.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Also in 1998, Frederick Koehler played the title role in the Geffen Playhouse production in Los Angeles, California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In December 2008, The Cripple of Inishmaan was produced Off-Broadway by the Atlantic Theater Company, in conjunction with The Druid Theatre Company of Galway, Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Lieutenant of Inishmore is the followup play which was written as a response to the 1993 Warrington bombings when two children were killed by the IRA.<ref>Review,Tale of cats and mad dogs, Culture section, Sunday Times, 9 February 2020</ref> It is a dark comedy in which the insane leader of an INLA (Irish National Liberation Army) splinter group discovers that his best friend, a cat, has been killed. The play was produced Off-Broadway in February 2006 by the Atlantic Theater Company.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It transferred to Broadway in May 2006 and received a 2006 Tony Award nomination for Best Play.<ref>"'The Lieutenant of Inishmore' Broadway" Playbill (vault). Retrieved 4 April 2016</ref>

The Banshees of Inisheer, the third play of the trilogy, was not produced. It is unclear how close the 2022 McDonagh-directed film The Banshees of Inisherin comes to the original material.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The film's screenplay was published in 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other plays

The Pillowman {{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} A writer in a non-specified totalitarian state is interrogated over the content of several of his Brothers Grimm-style short stories. The play was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2004<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and received a 2005 Tony Award nomination for Best Play.<ref>" The Pillowman Awards" ibdb.com. Retrieved 7 May 2016</ref>

A Behanding in Spokane {{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} A play in which the character of Carmichael has been searching for his missing left hand for a quarter of a century. The play opened on Broadway in March 2010. The play was nominated for the 2010 Drama League award, Distinguished Production of a Play.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>"'A Behanding in Spokane' Broadway" Playbill (vault). Retrieved 4 April 2016</ref>

Hangmen {{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} A play following Harry Wade, England's second-best hangman, after the abolition of hanging in Great Britain in 1965. The play premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September 2015.<ref name=interview/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The play was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2016. In 2020, Hangmen briefly premiered on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre starring Mark Addy and Dan Stevens before being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The play returned on Broadway in 2022 this time with David Threlfall and Alfie Allen. The play received critical acclaim from critics including from The New York Times theatre critic Jesse Green who wrote, "[Hangmen] feels like a perfect fit for our unjust times".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A Very Very Very Dark Matter {{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} A play set in a townhouse in Copenhagen that reveals the dark source of the tales of children's author Hans Christian Andersen, as well as of the writer Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London in October 2018.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Film

McDonagh has stated that he prefers writing films to plays, as he holds a "respect for the whole history of films and a slight disrespect for theatre." In a 1998 conversation with Irish drama critic Fintan O'Toole in BOMB magazine, McDonagh further explained,

It's not that I don't respect theatre. I'm intelligent enough to know that a play can completely inspire a person as much as a film...[but] theatre isn't something that's connected to me, from a personal point of view, I can't appreciate what I'm doing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

In an interview in 2005, the New York Times writer observed that McDonagh "now seems more comfortably resigned to the storytelling powers of drama, if still dismissive of its inherent elitism. 'It's kind of weird working in an art form that's not, well ...,' he stops and starts again. 'It's strange to be working in an art form that costs $100 to participate in.Template:'"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In an interview with Sean O'Hagan of The Guardian, McDonagh said theatre "is never going to be edgy in the way I want it to be",<ref name="interview"/> when discussing his absence from London theatre and promoting his new play Hangmen.

2000s

In 2006, McDonagh won an Academy Award for his short film Six Shooter (2004), which is his first film that he wrote and directed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Six Shooter is a black comedy (as are his plays) that features Brendan Gleeson, Rúaidhrí Conroy, David Wilmot and Aisling O'Sullivan. It was shot on location in Wicklow, Waterford and Rosslare. In the short film, Gleeson's character encounters a strange, and possibly psychotic, young man during a train journey homeward following his wife's death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

McDonagh made a deal with Focus Features to direct In Bruges, a feature-length film based on his own screenplay. Two Irish hitmen hide in the Flemish city of Bruges after a problematic job. Released in the US in 2008, the film features Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes and Brendan Gleeson. In Bruges was the Opening Night film for the 2008 Sundance Festival and the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, and McDonagh received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 81st Academy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2010s

In a 2008 interview with Stop Smiling magazine, McDonagh said, "I've got a couple of film scripts that are ready to go. I'm not going to do anything with them for a couple of years, until I've travelled and had some fun. But there's one called Seven Psychopaths; if I do another film, that'll be it. I hope you like it."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The production of the film was confirmed in May 2011 and it was eventually released in North America on 12 October 2012. Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, and Tom Waits star in the film.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

McDonagh wrote and directed his drama-dark film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 4 September<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival on 17 September 2017. Three Billboards won four awards at the 2017 Golden Globes, including Best Screenplay for McDonagh. McDonagh received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for the film.

2020s

Production of McDonagh's next film project was announced in 2020, titled The Banshees of Inisherin,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell in the lead roles. Production was delayed by COVID-19, with shooting ultimately beginning in August 2021<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and wrapping on 23 October 2021.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> The movie held its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2022 and had a limited theatrical release on 21 October 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> McDonagh was awarded Best Original Screenplay at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, where the film also won Best Comedy/Musical. McDonagh received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

Filming began on his film Wild Horse Nine on Easter Island in March 2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

McDonagh lives in East London.<ref name="guardian2022" /> He holds both Irish and British citizenship and spent a major part of his childhood in County Galway.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Since 2017, he has been in a relationship with the actress and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He is a vegetarian.<ref name="guardian2022">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Works

Plays

• The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996)
• The Cripple of Inishmaan (1996)
• A Skull in Connemara (1997)
• The Lonesome West (1997)
• The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001)
• The Banshees of Inisheer (unproduced)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• The Pillowman (2003)
• A Behanding in Spokane (2010)
• Hangmen (2015)
• A Very Very Very Dark Matter (2018)

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
2008	In Bruges	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2012	Seven Psychopaths	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2017	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2022	The Banshees of Inisherin	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Template:TBA	Wild Horse Nine	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No

Short film

• Six Shooter (2004)

Executive producer

• The Second Death (2000)
• The Guard (2011)

Recurring collaborators

rowspan=2 Template:Diagonal split header 2	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small
Template:Verth	Template:Verth	Template:Verth	Template:Verth	Template:Verth
Željko Ivanek	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Colin Farrell	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
Arnold Montey	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
Brendan Gleeson	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
Bomber Hurley Smith	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
Sam Rockwell	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
Abbie Cornish	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Woody Harrelson	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Sandy Martin	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Brendan Sexton III	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Amanda Warren	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Tom Waits	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
Kerry Condon	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No

Awards and nominations

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Awards and nominations received by McDonagh's films

Year	Title	Academy Awards		BAFTA Awards		Golden Globe Awards
		Nominations	Wins	Nominations	Wins	Nominations	Wins
2008	In Bruges	1		4	1	3	1
2012	Seven Psychopaths			1
2017	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	7	2	9	5	6	4
2022	The Banshees of Inisherin	9		10	4	8	3
Total		17	2	24	10	17	8

Directed Academy Award performances
Under McDonagh's direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations and wins for their performances in their respective roles.

Year	Performer	Film	Result
Academy Award for Best Actor
2023	Colin Farrell	The Banshees of Inisherin	Template:Nom
Academy Award for Best Actress
2017	Frances McDormand	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	Template:Won
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
2017	Woody Harrelson	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	Template:Nom
	Sam Rockwell		Template:Won
2023	Brendan Gleeson	The Banshees of Inisherin	Template:Nominated
	Barry Keoghan		Template:Nominated
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
2023	Kerry Condon	The Banshees of Inisherin	Template:Nominated

See also

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain
• List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Ireland
• List of European Academy Award winners and nominees
• List of Golden Globe winners

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 1732981

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=1732981|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm1732981/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+%0A++++++%7C+%7B%7B%7Bname%7D%7D%7D%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if: 1732981  {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: 
 | {{{name}}}
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 1732981{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=1732981|plain=false}}

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}

• {{#if: {{#property:P1220}}

| [https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/{{#if:

 | {{{id}}}
 | Template:First word
 }} {{#if: 
 | {{{name}}}
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at the Internet Broadway DatabaseTemplate:EditAtWikidataTemplate:WikidataCheck{{#ifeq:0|0|{{#if:||}}}}

| {{#ifeq:0|0|}}

}}