Creating Drama from Philosophy: Kierkegaardian Semantic Readings of the Drama “A Behanding in Spokane” by Martin Mc’Donagh

This research is an effort to reveal a guideline in writing scripts by finding meaningful similarities between Martin Mc’Donagh’s plays and Soren Kierkegaard’s Existentialist viewpoint, concentrating on “A Behanding in Spokane.” The aim of this research is to find a way to create and develop plays, following concept line of a certain philosopher by introducing a case study about the strength and vastness of influence of Kierkegaard’s philosophy on creation and developing characteristics and humane actions of characters of Mc’Donagh’s, emphasizing “A Behanding in Spokane.” Kierkegaard uses irony and indirect communication to explain subjective truth and his other philosophical concepts. He states the possibility of death at any moment and clarifies the meaning of awareness in the phrase “we should doubt everything” further than Cartesian doubt and signifies three spheres of living: Aesthetical, Ethic and Religious. In this research by analyzing the meaning of Kierkegaard’s philosophical elements in “A Behanding in Spokane” and comparing the evolution and development of these concepts in Mc’Donagh’s prior plays, this idea has been put to question whether the characters of this play have been characterized and arranged in accordance with Kierkegaard’s ideas. The main question of this research is: How can an author create and develop a play in accordance with a defined philosophical theory? And how did Martin Mc’Donagh do this in his “A Behanding in Spokane” script as a case study?