Marina Carr

A beautiful, talented woman is deserted by her husband. What will she do to bring him back to her? In order to regain his love, she builds a beautiful house, more than she can afford. He comes home to her, but how much of him is really hers? The story is complicated by two sisters, two aunts, and a truly zany grandmother who seem to be around whenever they might want to be alone. The play examines relationships on many levels, both romantic and platonic, and also familial relationships with those we haven't chosen - our extended family. It works on many levels, though is probably better staged than read, especially since the Irish accents are written into the script, which makes it difficult to read. The ambiguous ending is just right.… (meer)

Like Martin McDonagh, Carr sets her drama in isolated rural communities. Like McDonagh's characters, Carr's characters are stupid, violent, and cruel. But in McDonagh, it's all a joke, a joke that the characters themselves are in on. In Carr, it's just cruel and violent and bleak to a ridiculous level. Because, apparently if you're from the Irish countryside, you're either crazy, incestuous, or both. There's really nothing enjoyable about this play, on any level. I like a bit of darkness, a bit of grimness now and again, but this is darkness and grimness without redeeming purpose and not even done well. Avoid avoid avoid. I can't express enough how not worth reading this is.… (meer)

"A remarkable collection of plays by the young Irish playwright, Marina Carr, this volume ranges from the experimental word-play of her early absurdist dramedy 'Low in the Dark' to the shattering, nearly Medea-like tragedy of 'By the Bog of Cats'. While all four of these plays are set in what is more or less contemporary Ireland, each has an archetypal quality, a poetic truth, that reaches far beyond the confines of a particular geography or culture. At the same time as her gift for symbolic imagery and keen psychological analysis propels the interest and stageworthiness of Carr's plays beyond the specifics of any one culture or area, she also possesses an amazing ear for language, for the music that lies in the speech of everyday people and the beauties of dialect. Her later plays especially use the accent and syntax of the Midlands to great effect, producing a poetry from the lives of farmers, tinkers and fisher-folk that few have had the wherewithal to hear. Fearless, poetic and thought-provoking, Marina Carr's plays merit reading and re-reading again and again. Highly recommended for any reader interested in beautiful language or effective theater. "… (meer)