Marina Carr

Marina Carr is an Irish playwright, known for By the Bog of Cats.

Early life and education Carr was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1964, but spent most of her childhood in Pallas Lake, County Offaly, adjacent to the town of Tullamore. Carr's father, Hugh Carr, was a playwright and her mother, Maura Eibhlín Breathnach, was an Irish poet. As a child, Carr and her siblings, John and Deirdre, built a theatre in their shed.

Carr attended University College Dublin, studying English and philosophy. In 2011, she received an honorary Doctorate of Literature from her alma mater.

Career Carr has held posts as writer-in-residence at the Abbey Theatre and has lectured at Trinity College Dublin, Princeton University, and Villanova University. She lectured in the English department at Dublin City University in 2016. Carr is a member of Aosdána.

Awards The Mai won the Dublin Theatre Festival's Best New Irish Play award (1994–1995), and Portia Coughlan won the nineteenth Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (1996–1997). Other awards include The Irish Times Playwright award 1998, the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and The American Ireland Fund Award, the Macaulay Fellowship, and The Hennessy Award. Carr was named a recipient of the Windham-Campbell Literature Award in September 2017, administered by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. She was the second Irish author to receive the prize, following playwright Abbie Spallen in 2016. The Deer's Surrender (1990) This Love Thing (1991) Low in the Dark (1991) The Mai (1994) Portia Coughlan (1996) By the Bog of Cats (1998) Ariel (2000) On Raftery's Hill (2000) Meat and Salt (2003) Woman and Scarecrow (2004) The Cordelia Dream (2006) The Giant Blue Hand (2007) Marble (2007) 16 Possible Glimpses (2009) Hecuba (2015) iGirl (2021) Girl on an Altar (2022) The Map of Argentina Phaedra Backwards Audrey or Sorrow (2024) The Boy/The God and His Daughter (2025) Mirandolina (2026)

Adaptations

Blood Wedding Anna Karenina

By the Bog of Cats The original production of By the Bog of Cats took place at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The play opened on 7 October 1998 and ran until 14 November 1998. The production, totalling 45 performances, was directed by Patrick Mason and designed by Monica Frawley. Other members of the production team included lighting designer Nick Chelton, with sound by Dave Nolan. The lead roles were played by Siobhán Cullen (Josie Kilbride), Olwen Fouéré (Hester Swane), and Conor McDermottroe (Carthage Kilbride). Other characters were played by Joan O’Hara (Catwoman), Fionnuala Murphy (Carline Cassidy), and Tom Hickey (Xavier Cassidy).

Irish writer Frank McGuinness wrote the programme note for the Abbey production of By the Bog of Cats in 1998. His description of the play analyses Carr's style of writing, which he likens to Greek writing:

Woman and Scarecrow

Woman and Scarecrow centres on a dying woman's last stretch of time on earth, reflecting on her life. We are told very little of the setting, but presume she resides in a domestic space, as the stage directions in the first act indicate she is lying in bed 'gaunt and ill'. Apart from the bed, the only furniture indicated is a wardrobe, which has an ominous presence in the play. The mysterious thing that lurks inside the wardrobe signifies death and its imminent approach. For a good part of the play, the only other character present is Scarecrow. It is unclear what Scarecrow represents, perhaps the woman's subconscious. It is significant to note that all of the characters in the play "are referred to by either pronouns or titles - Woman, Him, Scarecrow, Auntie Ah, placing a universal slant on who they are and what they represent." The woman is largely defined in her role as mother and wife throughout the play. She is the mother of eight children, with a ninth having died. As the play progresses, we learn that her husband has been unfaithful. Despite being aware of this, a Woman at times is still dependent on Him, 'I've missed you in bed beside me. On other occasions she redeems herself, asserting her independence by insisting she will not wear her wedding ring to the grave and places value on herself, 'save you were not worthy of my love'. Her independence is consolidated by the fact that she dies when he is absent from the room. The play runs for approximately 2 hours 20 minutes.

Woman and Scarecrow was staged for the first time at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre in London in 2006, directed by Ramin Gray and starring Fiona Shaw and Bríd Brennan as Woman and Scarecrow, respectively. Lizzie Clachan designed the set for this production, alongside lighting designer, Mischa Twitchin, and sound designer, Emma Laxton. Later, it was produced in the Peacock Theatre, where it was directed by Selina Cartmell and starred Olwen Fouéré (Woman) and Barbara Brennan (Scarecrow). The play runs for approximately 1 hour 40 minutes.

Translated into Spanish as Mármol the play opened in Madrid in November 2016 at the Teatro Valle-Inclán, home to the National Drama Centre. It was directed by Antonio C. Guijosa and translated into Spanish by Antonio C. Guijosa and Marta I. Moreno. The cast included José Luis Alcobendas (Ben), Elena González (Catherine), Susana Hernández (Anne) and Pepe Viyuela (Art).

Mirandolina The Mirandolina project began with the Teatro Stabile del Veneto, which asked Marina Carr to rewrite a classic by Carlo Goldoni. Among Goldoni's comedies, Carr chose La locandiera (The Mistress of the Inn) as inspiration for a rewrite that addresses the issue of gender violence and the fear of women who attempt to resist male oppression.

The play is set in an Italian restaurant in Dublin (the original story was set in Florence, not in Venice, Goldoni's hometown), where Mirandolina works alongside men who desire her and would do anything to subjugate her to their will. The young woman's intelligence allows her to stand up to all her suitors. Mirandolina mocks them, but unfulfilled male desire soon proves capable of terrible acts, turning into cruel violence.

Mirandolina is an international co-production of the Teatro Stabile del Veneto – National Theatre, with the Abbey Theatre – National Theatre of Ireland and the Croatian National Theatre Rijeka. It premiered on February 5, 2026, in Treviso, Italy, directed by Caitriona McLaughlin.

Publications

The Mai. London: Dufour Editions, 1995. By the Bog of Cats. The Abbey, Dublin, and Wyndham's Theater, London. 1998 Plays One. London: Faber and Faber, 1999. Girl on an Altar. London: Faber and Faber, 2022.