This book represents the first collection of original critical material on Martin McDonagh, one of the most celebrated young playwrights of the last decade. Credited with reinvigorating contemporary Irish drama, his dark, despairing comedies have been performed extensively both on Broadway and in the West End, culminating in an Olivier Award for the The Pillowman and an Academy Award for his short film Six Shooter.
In Martin McDonagh, Richard Rankin Russell brings together a variety of theoretical perspectives - from globalization to the gothic - to survey McDonagh's plays in unprecedented critical depth. Specially commissioned essays cover topics such as identity politics, the shadow of violence and the role of Catholicism in the work of this most precocious of contemporary dramatists.
Contributors: Marion Castleberry, Brian Cliff, Joan Fitzpatrick Dean, Maria Doyle, Laura Eldred, José Lanters, Patrick Lonergan, Stephanie Pocock, Richard Rankin Russell, Karen Vandevelde
1. The Identity Politics of Martin McDonagh 2. Martin McDonagh's Stagecraft 3. Comedy and Violence in The Beauty Queen of Leenane 4. The 'Ineffectual Father Welsh/Walsh': Anti-Catholicism and Catholicism in Martin McDonagh's The Leenane Trilogy 5. Postmodern Theatricality in the Dutch/Flemish Adaptation of Martin McDonagh's The Leenane Trilogy 6. Breaking Bodies: The Presence of Violence on Martin McDonagh's Stage 7. Martin McDonagh and the Contemporary Gothic 8. The Pillowman: A New Story to Tell 9. 'Never Mind the Shamrocks' - Globalizing Martin McDonagh 10. Chronology of Martin McDonagh's Life and Works
