Set against the backdrop of contemporary Irish theatre, Martin McDonagh’s plays are widely acclaimed for their dark humour, shocking violence, and apparent challenges to social and cultural norms. Despite this reputation, this thesis argues that these challenges are ultimately contained within dominant hegemonic logics. Focusing on The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Connemara, The Lonesome West, The Cripple of Inishmaan, and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, the study applies Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory to examine how McDonagh’s dramaturgy constructs, destabilizes, and re-stabilizes identities and social relations. Drawing on concepts such as antagonism, hegemony, nodal points, and the logics of equivalence and difference, the thesis demonstrates that the plays manage social antagonisms by foreclosing radical alternatives and reinforcing existing power structures. Furthermore, by engaging with Michel Foucault’s analysis of power and regimes of truth, Judith Butler’s theorization of performativity, Benedict Anderson’s notion of imagined communities, and Eric Hobsbawm’s concept of invented traditions, the thesis situates McDonagh’s dramaturgy within broader debates on identity, nationalism, and cultural memory. These insights not only contribute to a deeper understanding of McDonagh’s dramaturgy but also shed light on broader dynamics within Irish drama, where apparent subversion can mask subtler forms of ideological reinforcement.
