The Lonesome West

Martin McDonagh is the most controversial Irish dramatist working today, with his explorations of Irish national identity that look at the darker side of provincial life. His bleak but blackly comic portrayal of modern, rural Ireland courts debate with its dark farce, caricatures of violence and barbarism, and an exaggerated, poeticized dialect of Hiberno-English.

The Guardian (UK)

Mr. McDonagh's great strength is that he combines a love of traditional story-telling with the savage ironic humour of the modern generation...in the extraordinary THE LONESOME WEST, two brothers, one of whom has killed their father, are closeted together in undying hostility like a penned-up Cain and Abel.

Martin McDonagh's first play The Beauty Queen of Leenane was nominated for six Tony awards, of which it won four, and the Laurence Olivier Award. In 2003, his play The Pillowman had its world premiere at the Royal National Theatre and received the 2004 Olivier Award. In 2006, Martin McDonagh won an Oscar for his short film Six Shooter.