Darwin tells us that mutation is the motor of evolution, and in the theater world the young playwright Martin McDonagh and the dramatist Matsuo Suzuki are each bringing a completely new approach to their art in Britain and Japan respectively.
As The Guardian's critic Michael Billington put it, McDonagh has "built up an enviable reputation as a writer of postmodern melodramas and black comedies," and much the same could be said of Suzuki in Japan, since the absurd satirical humor that is the hallmark of both, has struck a mighty chord with new young theater fans and the reverberations appear set to shake their countries' established theatrical orders to the core.
Born to an Irish family living in Camberwell in South London, the 33-year-old McDonagh scooped this year's Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play with "The Pillowman." A year after he presented McDonagh's acclaimed play "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" as "Wee Thomas" at Parco Gekijo in Shibuya (see The Japan Times, Aug. 13, 2003), the same, gifted young director, 29-year-old Kieshi Nagatsuka, is back at the same venue to accrue the same acclaim with "The Pillowman."