Line #52 Creator/MartinMcDonagh


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mcdonagh_4352.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[ClusterFBomb "Fucking"]] and [[CountryMatters "Cunt"]] are [[MetaphorIsMyMiddleName his middle names]].]]
3
4	Martin Faranan [=McDonagh=] (born 26 March 1970) is an English-born Irish playwright, screenwriter, and director. Jumping between both theatre and film frequently, several of his notable works include:
5
6	* '''The Leenane Trilogy''' (1996-1997), which consists of the plays ''The Beauty Queen of Leenane'', ''A Skull in Connemara'', and ''The Lonesome West''. The first and third earned him Tony Award nominations.
7	* '''The Aran Islands Trilogy''' (1996-2001), which consists of the plays ''The Cripple of Inishmaan'', ''Theatre/TheLieutenantOfInishmore'', and ''The Banshees of Inisheer''. The second also got him a Tony Award nomination, but the third was never produced due to [=McDonagh=]'s belief that it "[wasn't] any good".[[note]]In 2022, he directed a film titled ''Film/TheBansheesOfInisherin''; its resemblance to the unproduced play is unclear.[[/note]]
8	* '''Other plays''':
9	** ''Theatre/ThePillowman'' (2001), wherein a writer is interrogated when the murder-based short stories he writes come true;
10	** ''A Behanding in Spokane'' (2010), which follows a man trying to find the left hand he lost twenty-five years ago. ''Behanding'' starred Creator/ChristopherWalken, who was nominated for Best Actor Tony.
11	** ''Theatre/{{Hangmen}}'': Set in TheSixties.
12	* '''Short films''': ''Film/SixShooter'' (2004), a short film that involves a train passenger, coping with his wife's recent death, speaking with a very eccentric and possibly psychotic man. The film won [=McDonagh=] an [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestLiveActionShortFilm Oscar for Best Short Film]].
13	* '''Feature films''': ''Film/InBruges'' (2008), a BlackComedy which follows two Irish hitmen hiding in Belgium following a hit that went wrong; ''Film/SevenPsychopaths'' (2012), which follows [[AuthorAvatar screenwriter Marty]] trying to write a script, only to draw unwanted inspiration when dragged into a dog-kidnapping; ''Film/ThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri'' (2017), which follows a mother's crusade against her town's police force over her daughter's unsolved murder; and ''Film/TheBansheesOfInisherin'' (2022), which follows two lifelong best friends who abruptly break up their friendship. ''Bruges'' won [=McDonagh=] the Best Original Screenplay BAFTA, ''Psychopaths'' starred an EnsembleCast and has become somewhat of a CultClassic, ''Missouri'' won two Oscars ([[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestActressInALeadingRole Best Actress]] for Creator/FrancesMcDormand, [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestActorInASupportingRole Best Supporting Actor]] for Creator/SamRockwell), and ''Banshees'' earned Creator/ColinFarrell, Creator/BrendanGleeson, Creator/KerryCondon and Creator/BarryKeoghan their first acting Oscar nominations. Farrell additionally won the Best Comedy/Musical Actor UsefulNotes/GoldenGlobeAward for his roles in ''Bruges'' and ''Banshees''.
14
15	[=McDonagh's=] works are easily recognized by being (generally) [[BloodyHilarious violent]] [[BlackComedy black comedies]] that focus on [[DysfunctionalFamily dysfunctional families]], [[HitmanWithAHeart hired killers]], and/or a uniquely twisted form of SmallTownBoredom. Expect ''[[ClusterFBomb incredibly]]'' [[CountryMatters colourful]] [[BuffySpeak language]], and settings in (or near) County Galway (and surrounding islands) during UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, at least in his theatre work.
16
17	Further, his brother, John Michael [=McDonagh=], made his directorial debut with ''Film/TheGuard'' (which Martin produced) in 2011, and also released ''Film/{{Calvary}}'' in 2014. Like ''Six Shooter'' and ''Film/InBruges'', they both star Creator/BrendanGleeson.
18
19	----
20	!!Martin [=McDonagh's=] work contains examples of:
21
22	* AssociatedComposer: Carter Burwell has scored every one of his films.
23	* BlackComedy
24	* BloodyHilarious
25	* BrickJoke: the apparent feud between the unseen owners of a cat and a goose; Helen being hired to dispose of said animals; the owners not seeming to care about the feud anymore (because it was a cover to their SecretRelationship).
26	* BuryYourDisabled: deconstructed in ''Cripple''
27	* ChekhovsGun: Very prominent examples exist, so much so they alone act as a RewatchBonus. For example, the page for ''Film/InBruges'' notes how almost all the minor conversation act as {{foreshadowing}} for something to come.
28	* ClusterFBomb: Written works tend to have gratuitous amounts of bad language, so much so that characters from ''In Bruges'' [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] Harry punctuating his sentences with "fucking."
29	* CoveredInGunge: Bartley in ''Cripple'' gets at least three eggs cracked over his head every performance
30	* CreatorBreakdown: InUniverse in ''The Pillowman''
31	* CreatorProvincialism: Most of his work is either set in Ireland or at least features Irish protagonists.
32	* CreatorThumbprint: MametSpeak, BlackComedy that usually turns tragic, existential ennui, lots of profanity, dysfunctional families, and Irish people.
33	* DisabledCharacterDisabledActor: This trope is [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] InUniverse in ''Cripple''; the concept is PlayedWith in several ways, although the actor playing Billy is almost always able-bodied.
34	* TheDocumentary: "Man of Aran," a real 1934 ([[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory docudrama]]) film.
35	* EconomyCast: Whilst expected of his theatre pieces, ''In Bruges'' and ''Seven Psychopaths'' follow suit as, save for a handful of speaking extras, the plot tends to focus entirely on the lives of six or seven main characters.
36	* EvilMatriarch: Mag is the first type in ''Beauty Queen''.
37	* FakingTheDead: [=McDonagh=] LOVES this and its various subtropes. In the Aran Islands plays, it's a specific {{Homage}} to ''Theatre/ThePlayboyOfTheWesternWorld''.
38	* {{Gorn}}: Between the blood, gore, and kitty brain matter in ''[[Theatre/TheLieutenantOfInishmore Lieutenant]]''; hot oil in ''Beauty Queen''; flying bone chips in ''A Skull in Connemara''; and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking raw eggs]] in ''Cripple'', it seems like [=McDonagh=] is off his game if he hasn't created a hideous mess for stage management to clean up every night.
39	* GossipyHens: rare male example in Johnnypateenmike, who barters tidbits of information for goods from local merchants.
40	* [[HonoraryUncle Honorary Aunts]]: Kate and Eileen to Billy.
41	* IncurableCoughOfDeath: DoubleSubversion in ''Cripple.''
42	* KnowledgeBroker: Johnnypateenmike
43	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: "Better to cast a normal fella who can act crippled, than a crippled fella who can't act at all."
44	* MametSpeak: Dialogue can be realistically clumsy, irregularly paced, and very frequently dips into vulgar.
45	-->'''Ken''': You don't even know we're here hiding out.\
46	'''Ray''': What are you talking about?\
47	'''Ken''': You don't even know we're not here on a job.\
48	'''Ray''': What, on a job?\
49	'''Ken''': Yeah.\
50	'''Ray''': Here? Film/{{In Bruges}}?\
51	'''Ken''': Yeah.\
52	'''Ray''': Here? In Bruges? On a job?\
53	'''Ken''': Yeah.\
54	'''Ray''': Why? What did he actually say?\
55	'''Ken''': He didn't actually say anything.\
56	'''Ray''': Then why do you think it might be?\
57	'''Ken''': I don't think anything. But it's a bit fucking over-elaborate, isn't it? ''"Go take him to hide out." "Go take him to hide out where?" "Go take him to hide out in fucking Bruges."'' You can hide out in Croydon.\
58	'''Ray''': Hmm. Or Coventry. Hmm. It is a bit over-elaborate. Hmm.
59	* MaybeEverAfter: Billy and Slippy Helen in ''Cripple.'' FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you realize siblings Mairead and Davy in ''[[Theatre/TheLieutenantOfInishmore Lieutenant]]'' share a last name with Billy Claven (established to have no living relatives) and many personality traits with Helen and her brother Bartley. [[DownerEnding That is if Billy lives much longer after the play]].
60	* MommyIssues: Maureen in ''Beauty Queen''-- and ''how!''
61	* {{Oireland}} / NWordPrivileges: Early in his career, [=McDonagh=] received criticism for his depiction of the Irish, being born and raised in England himself.
62	* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Auntie Katie, who talks to ''stones.''
63	* OnlySaneMan: He's an alcoholic mess, but Father Welsh in The Leenane Trilogy is pretty much the only one in the village to [[spoiler: never kill anyone]].
64	* ThePlace: All the plays in the Leenane and Aran Islands Trilogies feature a place name or direction in their titles. ''A Behanding in Spokane'', ''Film/InBruges'' and ''Film/TheBansheesOfInisherin'' also qualify.
65	* PrecisionFStrike: From, hilariously, a little girl in ''The Pillowman.''
66	-->"I don't want to be ''like'' Jesus. ''I fucking '''am''' Jesus''!"
67	* ProductionPosse: Creator/ZeljkoIvanek has appeared in his first three films, while Creator/ColinFarrell starred in ''Film/InBruges'', ''Film/SevenPsychopaths'' and ''Film/TheBansheesOfInisherin'' (reuniting with Creator/BrendanGleeson from ''Bruges'' for the latter), and Creator/WoodyHarrelson, Creator/SamRockwell, and Creator/AbbieCornish rejoined [=McDonagh=] from ''Psychopaths'' for ''Film/ThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri''. Additionally, Carter Burwell has scored all his feature films and Ben Davis has been his cinematographer since ''Psychopaths''.
68	* ProsceniumReveal: [[spoiler: Cripple Billy]]'s death scene early in Act 2 is revealed to have been his Hollywood screen test.
69	* RepetitiveName: Katurian K Katurian in ''The Pillowman''. [[note]]In case you were wondering, the K stands for Katurian.[[/note]]
70	* RuleOfFunny: "Let's play England and Ireland!" [[CoveredInGunge egg to the head]]
71	* RunningGag: In ''Cripple'': "Ireland can't be so bad if [[[MadLibsCatchPhrase American, French, colored fellows]], [[ItMakesSenseInContext sharks]]] want to move here!"
72	* SeinfeldianConversation
73	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Pretty Damn Cynical
74	* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Most everyone, especially older characters. It's essentially what you would get if you crossed Hiberno-English with MametSpeak. The style was so distinctive it was parodied "How Are Things In Irish Drama?", the ''Theatre/ForbiddenBroadway'' take on ''Beauty Queen''.
75	* ThreateningShark: A shark is hunted in "Man of Aran" and is apparently how Johnnypateenmike's father died. The widow turns the other cheek. To a shark!
76	* TheXOfY: Several titles
77

Context Creator / MartinMcDonagh