Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh
McDonagh at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	(1970-03-26) 26 March 1970 (age 46) Camberwell, London, England
Citizenship	British Irish
Occupation	Playwright, screenwriter, film director
Years active	1996–present
Notable work	In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths

Martin McDonagh (/məkˈdɒnə/; born 26 March 1970) is an English/Irish playwright, screenwriter and film director, born and brought up in London with both British and Irish citizenship. He has been described as one of the most important living Irish playwrights.

McDonagh was born in Camberwell, London to Irish parents. His mother (originally from Killeenduff, Easky, County Sligo) and his father (originally from Lettermullen, Connemara, County Galway) later moved back to Galway, leaving McDonagh and his brother (writer-director John Michael McDonagh) to grow up in London.

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). His second trilogy consists of The Cripple of Inishmaan (1997), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001) and The Banshees of Inisheer (the third play was never published, as McDonagh insisted it "isn't any good"), and are set across a trio of islands that are located off the coast of County Galway.

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 in Galway in 1997.