Martin Mcdonagh's Freewheeling and Slightly Surreal Irish National Theatre, In-Yer-Face! the Life and Work of Martin Mcdonagh Until 2009
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Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Martin McDonagh's freewheeling and slightly surreal Irish national theatre, in-yer-face! The life and work of Martin McDonagh until 2009 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Jozef De Vos Paper submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of “Master in de Taal- en Letterkunde: Engels – Nederlands”. by Rhea Vanhellemont August 2009 Thanks to Prof. Dr. Jozef DeVos, source of ideas, for bringing on Martin McDonagh as a subject in the first place, and for his help with finding the definite topic. Margot Vanhellemont, clever sister, for her comments during the whole writing process, on the early drafts as well as on the final text. Judith Van Doorselaer, enthusiastic friend, for reading a part of my thesis and making her useful intelligent observations. Raphaël Cielen, attractive distraction, for making up for the lost time by ardently encouraging me to finish my thesis before the second deadline. Nell X, noble stranger, webmaster of the one and only Martin McDonagh website, for sharing a passion with me and for her constructive remarks on some parts of my discussion of his work. Martin McDonagh, brilliant playwright, for existing and writing his witty and fecking great plays. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction p. 1-2 2 National (anti-nationalistic) Irish theatre: its development, p. 2-8 representatives and its influence on Martin McDonagh 2.1 The development of cultural nationalism in nineteenth – p. 2-5 twentieth century Ireland: the Irish Literary Revival: 1898-1939 2.2 Characteristics and famous representative Synge and O’Casey p. 5-7 2.3 Irish Nationalism and McDonagh p. 7-8 3 In-Yer-face-Theatre: characteristics and representatives p. 9-10 4 Martin McDonagh p. 10-17 4.1 Biography and work p. 10-14 4.2 An Irish storyteller? p. 14-16 4.3 As a writer p. 16-17 5 The trilogies p. 17-51 5.1 A mixture of nationalist and in-yer-face theatre p. 17-18 5.2 The Leenane Trilogy p. 18 5.2.1 Synopsis p. 18-19 5.2.2 Characteristics of Irish nationalist theatre in p. 19-29 The Leenane Trilogy 5.2.2.1 Realism p. 19-22 5.2.2.2 The challenging of the ideal image of the Irishman p. 22-29 and Ireland 5.2.3 Characteristics of in-yer-face-theatre in The Leenane p. 30-39 Trilogy 5.2.3.1 Language p. 30 5.2.3.2 The building up of tension: distrust, cruelty and p. 30-34 murder 5.2.3.3 Malice and morality p. 34-38 5.2.3.4 Black humour p. 38-39 5.3 The Aran Islands Trilogy p. 39-51 5.3.1 Synopsis p. 40 5.3.2 Characteristics of Irish nationalist theatre p. 40-45 5.3.2.1 Realism p. 40-42 5.3.2.2 The challenging of the ideal image of the Irishman p. 42-45 and Ireland 5.3.3 Characteristics of in-yer-face-theatre used p. 45-51 5.3.3.1 Language p. 46 5.3.3.2 Malice and morality p. 46-49 5.3.3.3 Black humour p. 49-51 6 Something different: The Pillowman p. 51-61 6.1 Synopsis p. 52 6.1 Characteristics of in-yer-face theatre in The Pillowman p. 52-57 6.1.1 Language and intensity p. 52-53 6.1.2 Standards and values p. 53-57 6.1.2.1 Right/wrong p. 54 6.1.2.2 True/untrue p. 54-56 6.1.2.3 Real/unreal p. 56 6.1.2.4 Art/life p. 56-57 6.2 The aspect of storytelling in The Pillowman p. 57-61 6.2.1 The balance between fact and illusion p. 58-59 6.2.2 The title story ‘The Pillowman’ p. 60-61 7 Conclusion p. 62-63 8 Sources p. 63-67 8.1 Primary literature p. 63 8.2 Secondary literature p. 64-66 8.3 Websites p. 66-67 1 Introduction Davey: Your son will be dead and them fecks will be gone, and Inishmore can get back to normal then. Donny: It’s incidents like this that put tourists off Ireland. (The Lieutenant of Inishmore, p. 42) Audiences are advised not to sit in the front row to avoid being splattered with stage blood, spec- tators are warned against the play’s abrasive content and the abundant use of weapons on stage, critics condemn the playwright for using ‘shock tactics’ (Young 2003) on the one hand and call him ‘a dangerously prodigious master of theatrical form’ who has ‘a talent that goes far deeper than most people understand’ (Jones 2003) on the other hand. The success of this both cherished and reviled playwright speaks for itself: Martin McDonagh decisively conquered the stage with his violent, hilarious and seemingly politically incorrect plays. The divergent reactions bring about one certainty: McDonagh’s plays will hit you right in-yer-face. This paper provides a discussion of the important literary influences on Martin McDonagh’s work. An Irishman living in Great Britain, McDonagh ingeniously intermingles the Irish national tradition of playwriting with the new British in-yer-face theatre. His oeuvre will be discussed closely, with special attention to the characteristics of both genres. Is the mixture of Irish na- tional elements and in-yer-face characteristics homogeneous? Can an evolution be discovered in McDonagh’s work? In the second chapter, the Heimat of the national Irish theatre is discussed, with a focus on its development, representatives, and the influences that can be found in the plays of McDonagh. Characteristics that appear in McDonagh’s plays are the realistic setting, the further challenging of the ideal image of ‘the Irishman’, and references to Irish heritage, politics and Ireland’s blood- spattered history. The third chapter then focuses on the new, violent British theatre form of which characteristics and representatives are given. In McDonagh’s work, the brutality and ex- plicit cruelty are present, as well as the abrasive language and dark humour. Chapter four centres entirely on the playwright himself. The biography is pieced together of information of several interviews given by McDonagh. A separate section is dedicated to the Irishness of McDonagh: can McDonagh be called Irish? And how does this influence his plays? To conclude this chapter, McDonagh’s ideas about being a writer and what he wants to achieve is commented on. Chapter five and six focus on his plays. First, in chapter five, the trilogies, The Leenane Trilogy and The Aran Islands Trilogy, are thoroughly discussed and placed in the tradition of Irish national thea- 1 tre and in-yer-face theatre. In chapter six, finally, his last play to date, The Pillowman, is tackled. Chapter seven provides a conclusion with the findings of this paper. 2 National (anti-nationalistic) Irish theatre: its development, representatives and its influ- ence on Martin McDonagh 2.1 The development of cultural nationalism in nineteenth and twentieth century Ireland: the Irish Literary Revival: 1898-1939 Theatrical performance in Ireland has never been truly Irish: the early forms of drama were al- ways ‘linked to the island’s colonization by England’ (Diehl 2001: 102). This changed when feelings of nationalism arose during the fight for an independent Ireland. As a consequence of the growing nationalism, only plays that glorified Ireland were produced on the nineteenth cen- tury stage. For the reason that theatre has proven to be ‘[i]n times of acute national consciousness […] the form of literature which makes the most direct impact on the people, becoming at times a means for propaganda, but ultimately the means by which the deeper life of the people is ex- pressed’ (O’Driscoll 1971: 12). Irish theatre in the nineteenth century consisted primarily in melodrama. The task of a melodramatic play is to present the audience with a nice and easy al- ternative for their daily lives. Stereotypical battles between good and bad forces are fought, al- ways rushing to a happy end. Melodrama presented life ‘[i]n a time of political, social, and artis- tic deprivation as [the nation] would want it to be rather than life as it was’ (O’Driscoll 1971: 13). At the end of the nineteenth century, the interest in folklore and folk music grew: ‘the discoveries made by nineteenth century scholars and antiquarians resulted in the translation and interpretation of the early sagas and the publication of a host of novels and poems set in a mythi- cal heroic age or in a romantic Irish landscape’ (Fitz-Simon 1983: 133). Through the study of Irish folklore, an interest in the Irish language revived as well, acted out with ‘deep nationalistic fervour’ by the members of the Gaelic League (founded in 1893). These elements added even more feelings of proud nationalism to the melodramatic plays. The predominantly melodramatic tradition did not give way until 1898, when the Irish Literary Theatre was formed by Lady Gregory, William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn. Al- though they wanted to create a national theatre, they did not want to produce nationalistic plays; they did not want to lionize Ireland. Lady Gregory, Yeats and Martyn shared a passion for Irish 2 language and folklore and on their first meeting, in 1898, they started discussing the possibility of establishing an Irish theatre. Especially Yeats was an ardent supporter of the cause of a na- tional drama. In 1886, when he was about twenty-one Yeats declared: ‘I turned my back on for- eign themes, decided that the race was more important than the individual’ (Fitz-Simon 1983: 135).