The Dark Underbelly of Colonialism: McDonagh's Craft and Criticism in A Very Very Very Dark Matter Anonymous 10th Grade

For much of his professional career, director Martin McDonagh has consistently said that he prefers the medium of film to theater, saying that he has a "respect for the whole history of films and a slight disrespect for theatre." And while his output does not match his feelings (since his feature film debut In Bruges [released in 2008], McDonagh has consistently released a film and then a play), there is no doubt that any McDonagh work is welcomed with great anticipation by readers, spectators, and viewers around the world.

After a turn to the silver screen with the Academy Award-winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (released in late 2016), McDonagh returned to the theater with 2018’s A Very Very Very Dark Matter, which tells the story of an African woman named Marjory, a gifted writer who is responsible for virtually all of famed writer Hans Christian Andersen’s output (including children’s books like The Little Mermaid and The Emperor’s New Clothes). The trouble is, she is imprisoned by Andersen in a small wooden box. At the surface, this is a darkly comedic story of a wrier who is not responsible for his own output. However, this is a story that parallels the period of African colonialism that occurred from...