Martin McDonagh

The playwright Martin Mcdonagh has said theatres have refused to revive his work because he would not allow changes to the language.

He blames " petty outrage" for some venues wanting to make his plays more " palatable".

It is a " major problem" he told BBC Radio 4 's Today, and a " dangerous place" for writers.

McDonagh's film The Banshees of Inisherin was nominated for nine Oscars earlier this year.

His 2003 play The Pillowman , which concerns a writer imprisoned by a totalitarian state, is being revived in June on London's West End starring Steve Pemberton and Lily Allen .

The Free speech charity Pen International has launched a partnership with the production to support " many of the values we promote such as the need for tolerance, Critical Thinking and informed debate".

" Only in The Past few years have I had theatre companies refuse to do my plays, because they don't like some of the wording in them, " McDonagh said.

They wanted to make some words " more palatable to them or what they think their audience is" He Said , despite him being " an established writer who sells tickets".

There was a backlash after the publisher of Roald Dahl 's stories announced some wording would be changed to make them suitable for modern audiences.

in February after high-profile authors including Salman Rushdie called The Move censorship and the Prime Minister 's spokesperson said works of fiction should be " preserved and not airbrushed".

McDonagh has long courted controversy with his fictional work.

In 2006 that his play The Lieutenant of Inishmore was the result of " trying to write a play that would get me killed".

The Play satirised an IRA paramilitary Returning Home and violently avenging the death of his cat.

Despite the case of Salman Rushdie , who long faced death threats over his work McDonagh said writers should not fear threats of personal injury because " it might not actually exist anyway".

He told BBC Radio 4 : " I do think it's a good idea to write something that's dangerous or explosive. "

McDonagh said state-sponsored censorship of writers is " not getting any better" adding: " It seems like governments are becoming increasingly more scared of dissenting voices. "

A new production of his play The Pillowman will star Pemberton and Allen because they are " cool people and quite dangerous in their own art forms as well" he says.

" I think it's a very frightening time, " he added, suggesting new writers should " get off social media" " stop checking the internet" and " go out and outrage".

Source of news: bbc.com