The Banshees Of Inisherin: Allegory, Stakes and Structure

The Banshees Of Inisherin: Allegory, Stakes and Structure 

This week we're going to be looking at The Banshees of Inisherin, by Martin McDonagh.

It was fascinating to see The Banshees of Inisherin up against Everything Everywhere All at Once at the Golden Globes, because Everything Everywhere All at Once was such an extraordinarily complicated screenplay, and The Banshees of Inisherin is such a simple one. It was very interesting to see those two scripts in head-to-head competition, because they represent the far extremes of what a great screenplay can be. The truth is, these are both highly effective screenplays. 

Today, we're going to talk about some of the more complicated elements underneath this apparently simple screenplay. We're going to talk about the piece as a political allegory for the Irish Civil War and the troubles in Ireland that took place in the many years after it, and how Martin McDonagh’s incredible screenwriting makes this allegory work so well.

But first, I want to talk about one of the biggest accomplishments of the film: The Banshees of Inisherin creates stakes out of a situation that almost anyone would consider extremely low stakes. 

Now, there are going to be some spoilers ahead. So if you have not yet watched The Banshees of Inisherin–  what are you doing? Run out and watch it, and then come back here.

How does The Banshees of Inisherin build high stakes out of a low stakes situation?

The Banshees of Inisherin takes place on a mythical island during the Irish civil war, but the Irish Civil War is barely seen. It's basically just some distant explosions and a couple of references. The characters live in a perfect, idyllic community–  or at least, what seems like it. In the first image of the piece, we see this perfect rainbow over this beautiful town. And it's very “green screened,” but it works that it looks fake. Because it's so perfect, so happy– it almost feels like we're going to start a musical or something.

We're watching this nice guy named Pádraic Súilleabháin.  He loves his life, he loves his sister, he loves his town and he loves his best friend, Colm Doherty. He goes looking for Colm so they can have a drink.

This is the normal world of The Banshees of Inisherin. It’s happiness turned up almost to a mythical level; it’s the kind of idyllic dream that we have of home. It's the way this relatively simple man sees his home: as the loveliest place on earth. Pádraic knocks on his friend Colm’s door– the guy he has a pint with every single day at the pub– to pick him up. And Colm does not respond.

Structurally, what happens for the whole first half of The Banshees of Inisherin is simply Pádraic trying to understand why Colm doesn't want to be his friend anymore.

In fact, it's not until page 31 of the script, the end of Act One, that any threat of what's going to happen in the movie actually occurs! It's not until page 55 (of a 94-page script) that the first truly horrible thing happens.

That is incredible! It means that Martin McDonagh has basically created unflinching drama for more than half the script without actually allowing a single act of violence to happen.

He has wrestled one simple idea– “maybe he doesn't want to be your friend anymore”– into nearly an hour of compelling screen time with tremendous stakes.

Why is your screenplay low stakes?

I’m going to be talking about how to build stakes in your screenwriting, and how to use The Banshees of Inisherin to understand stakes and how they're built. Because building stakes is one of the most common notes that you will receive as a screenwriter.

So how do you write a script with high stakes?

You're going to get this note all the time: “the stakes are low,” “it kind of felt low stakes,” “I wasn't connected,” “I don't know,