Playwright McDonagh Turns Movie Buff at Oscars???

Martin McDonagh has made remarkably good on a long-held ambition. In numerous interviews in the past, the playwright has claimed he only ever got involved in theatre as a route into the movie industry. So far the strategy seems to have worked a treat - last night in Los Angeles, McDonagh collected his first Oscar, which is the sixth major award for his debut short film, Six Shooter. The movie is about a grief-stricken man who travels home by train after his wife's death and finds an already terrible day taking some bizarre turns for the worse. McDonagh’s stage plays include The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Leenane Trilogy (The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Connemara and Lonesome West) and the Olivier and Whatsonstage.com Award-winning but highly controversial The Pillowman. The premiere production of the last - directed by John Crowley and featuring David Tennant, Adam Godley, Nigel Lindsay and Jim Broadbent – had an extended sell-out season at the NT Cottesloe from November 2003 to March 2004 ahead of a UK tour and Broadway transfer. Though born and raised in London, McDonagh had, prior to The Pillowman, set all of his published plays in his parents' native Ireland. In his Oscars acceptance speech, McDonagh said “hi to my mom and dad back in Ireland” as well as “a big hello to everyone involved with Lieutenant of Inishmore in Atlantic, New York”. Inishmore opened to rave reviews at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York last Monday and, on Friday (3 March 2006), it was announced that, following its current run, the production will transfer to Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre where it opens on 3 May 2006 (previews from 18 April). Let’s hope McDonagh’s success on screen doesn’t keep him away from the stage for too long.

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