Oscar Winner Martin McDonagh Says Theatres Have Refused His Plays, Calls It “A Dangerous Place For Writers”
Irish Oscar winner Martin McDonagh has complained of theatres refusing to perform his work because he would not agree to changes in the language.
The playwright turned director told the BBC’s Today news programme that, despite him being an established writer who sells tickets, “They wanted to make some words more palatable to them or what they think their audience is.”
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He called it a “major problem,” blaming “petty outrage” by the venues, which he said are becoming “a dangerous place” for writers.
McDonagh’s film The Banshees of Inisherin was nominated for nine Oscars this year. He is a previous winner for his 2008 short film, Six Shooter, and his 2018 Three Billboards Outside Epping, Missouri was also multi-nominated, with a win for actress Frances McDormand.
His 2003 play The Pillowman, telling the story of a writer imprisoned by a totalitarian state, is set for revival in June on London’s West End stage.
McDonagh told the BBC that state-sponsored censorship of writers is “not getting any better”, adding: “It seems like governments are becoming increasingly more scared of dissenting voices.”
“I think it’s a very frightening time,” he added, and said his opinion was that new writers should “get off social media”, “stop checking the internet” and “go out and outrage.”
US bestselling author Judy Blume, whose hit novel Forever was taken off a schools reading list in a county in Florida, said last week the current phenomenon of books being banned was “worse than in the 1980s – it’s become political.”
Both writers’ comments come after recent controversy over revised novels – with Agatha Christie and Roald Dahl among the celebrated authors to have their copy updated by publishers. Such was the backlash in February when publishers Puffin announced they would be removing words deemed offensive in 2023 from Dahl’s books for children, that the publisher confirmed they would release two versions – one amended and one unchanged.
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